INFORMATION KIT

INFORMATION KIT
MONTREAL 1998

FIRST SESSION OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL NEGOTIATING
COMMITTEE – PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS
29 June to 3 July 1998 – Montreal, Canada

Contents

Press release on start of treaty talks
What are Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)?
The international community’s response to POPs
- The first step: better coordination
- The second step: regulating international trade
- The third step: minimizing releases and emissions
- Principles for a POPs treaty
The POPs negotiations: A glossary of acronyms and jargon
- The players
- The action (meetings, documents, process)
- The issues

Produced by UNEP Chemicals and
UNEP’s Information Unit for Conventions.

UNITED NATIONS

ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME

For use of the media only;
not an official document.

PRESS RELEASE

Treaty talks start on persistent organic pollutants (POPs)

Montreal, 29 June 1998 – Over 100 governments are meeting here during the week of 29 June for the first round of talks on an international agreement to minimize emissions and releases of persistent organic pollutants such as DDT and PCBs into the environment.

"In addition to producing death and sickness through direct contact, many highly toxic chemicals and pesticides persist for years in the environment, where they cause long-term damage to human health and to nature," said Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, which is sponsoring the negotiations. "These substances travel readily across international borders to even the most remote regions, making this a global problem that requires a global solution."

A growing body of scientific evidence indicates that exposure to very low doses of certain POPs – which are among the most toxic substances ever created – can lead to cancer, damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, diseases of the immune system, reproductive disorders, and interference with normal infant and child development.

Another concern behind the treaty negotiations is the growing accumulation of unwanted and obsolete stockpiles of pesticides and toxic chemicals, particularly in developing countries. Dump sites and toxic drums from the 1950s, ‘60s, and ‘70s are now decaying and leaching chemicals into the soil and poisoning water resources, wildlife, and people. A great deal of infrastructure and equipment such as electrical transformers and capacitors are also at or near the end of their useful lives and may leak dangerous chemicals such as PCBs.

The Montreal talks will focus on a list of 12 POPs: aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, dioxins, endrin, furans, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, PCBs, and toxaphene. Scientific criteria will be developed for identifying other POPs that may be added to the list later.

The second round of talks is tentatively scheduled for 8 - 12 February 1999; the negotiations are expected to conclude by the year 2000.

Note to journalists: Official documents and other information are available via the Internet at http://irptc.unep.ch/pops/. For more information or to arrange interviews, please contact Michael Williams at (+41-22) 917 8242, fax (+41-22) 797 3464, e-mail mwilliams@unep.ch

UNITED NATIONS

ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME

What Are POPs?

June 1998 – Of all the pollutants released into the environment every year by human activity, persistent organic pollutants, or POPs, are among the most dangerous. They are highly toxic, causing an array of adverse effects, notably death, disease, and birth defects among humans and animals. Specific effects can include cancer, allergies and hypersensitivity, damage to the central and peripheral nervous systems, reproductive disorders, and disruption of the immune system. Some POPs are also considered to be endocrine disrupters, which, by altering the hormonal system, can damage the reproductive and immune systems of exposed individuals as well as their offspring; they can also have developmental and carcinogenic effects.

These highly stable compounds can last for years or decades before breaking down. They circulate globally through a process known as the "grasshopper effect". POPs released in one part of the world can, through a repeated (and often seasonal) process of evaporation, deposit, evaporation, deposit, be transported through the atmosphere to regions far away from the original source.

In addition, POPs concentrate in living organisms through another process called bioaccumulation. Though not soluble in water, POPs are readily absorbed in fatty tissue, where concentrations can become magnified by up to 70,000 times the background levels. Fish, predatory birds, mammals, and humans are high up the food chain and so absorb the greatest concentrations. When they travel, the POPs travel with them. As a result of these two processes, POPs can be found in people and animals living in regions such as the Arctic, thousands of kilometers from any major POPs source.

POPs are either used as pesticides, consumed by industry, or generated unintentionally as by-products of various industrial processes. The 12 POPs recognized as requiring the most urgent action are:

* Aldrin – A pesticide applied to soils to kill termites, grasshoppers, corn rootworm, and other insect pests, aldrin can also kill birds, fish, and humans. In one incident, aldrin-treated rice is believed to have killed hundreds of shorebirds, waterfowl, and passerines along the Texas Gulf Coast when these birds either ate animals that had eaten the rice or ate the rice themselves. In humans, the fatal dose for an adult male is estimated to be about five grams. Humans are mostly exposed to aldrin through dairy products and animal meats. Studies in India indicate that the average daily intake of aldrin and its byproduct dieldrin (see below) is about 19 micrograms per person. The use of aldrin has been banned or severely restricted in many countries.

* Chlordane – Used extensively to control termites and as a broad-spectrum insecticide on a range of agricultural crops, chlordane remains in the soil for a long time and has a reported half-life of one year. The lethal effects of chlordane on fish and birds vary according to the species, but tests have shown that it can kill mallard ducks, bobwhite quail, and pink shrimp. Chlordane may affect the human immune system and is classified as a possible human carcinogen. It is believed that human exposure occurs mainly through the air, and chlordane has been detected in the indoor air of residences in the US and Japan. Chlordane is either banned or severely restricted in dozens of countries.

* DDT – Perhaps the most infamous of the POPs, DDT was widely used during World War II to protect soldiers and civilians from malaria, typhus, and other diseases spread by insects. After the war, DDT continued to be used to control disease, and it was sprayed on a variety of agricultural crops, especially cotton. DDT continues to be applied against mosquitoes in several countries to control malaria. Its stability, its persistence (as much as 50% can remain in the soil 10-15 years after application), and its widespread use have meant that DDT residues can be found everywhere; residual DDT has even been detected in the Arctic.

Perhaps the best known toxic effect of DDT is egg-shell thinning among birds, especially birds of prey. Its impact on bird populations led to bans in many countries during the 1970s. Thirty-four countries have banned DDT, while 34 others severely restrict its use. Nonetheless, it has been detected in food from all over the world. Although residues in domestic animals have declined steadily over the last two decades, food-borne DDT remains the greatest source of exposure for the general population. The short-term acute effects of DDT on humans are limited, but long-term exposures have been associated with chronic health effects. DDT has been detected in breast milk, raising serious concerns about infant health.

* Dieldrin – Used principally to control termites and textile pests, dieldrin has also been used to control insect-borne diseases and insects living in agricultural soils. Its half-life in soil is approximately five years. The pesticide aldrin rapidly converts to dieldrin, so concentrations of dieldrin in the environment are higher than dieldrin use alone would indicate. Dieldrin is highly toxic to fish and other aquatic animals, particularly frogs, whose embryos can develop spinal deformities after exposure to low levels. Dieldrin residues have been found in air, water, soil, fish, birds, and mammals, including humans. Food represents the primary source of exposure to the general population. For example, dieldrin was the second most common pesticide detected in a US survey of pasteurized milk.

* Dioxins – These chemicals are produced unintentionally due to incomplete combustion, as well during the manufacture of pesticides and other chlorinated substances. They are emitted mostly from the burning of hospital waste, municipal waste, and hazardous waste, and also from automobile emissions, peat, coal, and wood. There are 75 different dioxins, of which seven are considered to be of concern. One type of dioxin was found to be present in the soil 10 - 12 years after the first exposure. Dioxins have been associated with a number of adverse effects in humans, including immune and enzyme disorders and chloracne, and they are classified as possible human carcinogens. Laboratory animals given dioxins suffered a variety of effects, including an increase in birth defects and stillbirths. Fish exposed to these substances died shortly after the exposure ended. Food (particularly from animals) is the major source of exposure for humans.

* Endrin – This insecticide is sprayed on the leaves of crops such as cotton and grains. It is also used to control rodents such as mice and voles. Animals can metabolize endrin, so it does not accumulate in their fatty tissue to the extent that structurally similar chemicals do. It has a long half-life, however, persisting in the soil for up to 12 years. In addition, endrin is highly toxic to fish. When exposed to high levels of endrin in the water, sheepshead minnows hatched early and died by the ninth day of their exposure. The primary route of exposure for the general human population is through food, although current dietary intake estimates are below the limits deemed safe by world health authorities.

* Furans – These compounds are produced unintentionally from many of the same processes that produce dioxins, and also during the production of PCBs (see below). They have been detected in emissions from waste incinerators and automobiles. Furans are structurally similar to dioxins and share many of their toxic effects. There are 135 different types, and their toxicity varies. Furans persist in the environment for long periods, and are classified as possible human carcinogens. Food, particularly animal products, is the major source of exposure for humans. Furans have also been detected in breast-fed infants.

* Heptachlor –Primarily used to kill soil insects and termites, heptachlor has also been used more widely to kill cotton insects, grasshoppers, other crop pests, and malaria-carrying mosquitoes. It is believed to be responsible for the decline of several wild bird populations, including Canadian Geese and American Kestrels in the Columbia River basin in the US. The geese died after eating seeds treated with levels of heptachlor lower than the usage levels recommended by the manufacturer, indicating that even responsible use of heptachlor may kill wildlife. Laboratory tests have also shown high doses of heptachlor to be fatal to mink, rats, and rabbits, with lower doses causing adverse behavioral changes and reduced reproductive success. Heptachlor is classified as a possible human carcinogen, and some two dozen countries have either banned it or severely restricted its use. Food is the major source of exposure for humans, and residues have been detected in the blood of cattle from the US and from Australia.

* Hexachlorobenzene (HCB) – First introduced in 1945 to treat seeds, HCB kills fungi that affect food crops. It was widely used to control wheat bunt. It is also a byproduct of the manufacture of certain industrial chemicals and exists as an impurity in several pesticide formulations. When people in eastern Turkey ate HCB-treated seed grain between 1954 and 1959, they developed a variety of symptoms, including photosensitive skin lesions, colic, and debilitation; several thousand developed a metabolic disorder called porphyria turcica, and 14% died. Mothers also passed HCB to their infants through the placenta and through breast milk. In high doses, HCB is lethal to some animals and, at lower levels, adversely affects their reproductive success. HCB has been found in food of all types. A study of Spanish meat found HCB present in all samples. In India, the estimated average daily intake of HCB is 0.13 micrograms per kilogram of body weight.

* Mirex – This insecticide is used mainly to combat fire ants, and it has been used against other types of ants and termites. It has also been used as a fire retardant in plastics, rubber, and electrical goods. Direct exposure to mirex does not appear to cause injury to humans, but studies on laboratory animals have caused it to be classified as a possible human carcinogen. In studies mirex proved toxic to several plant species and to fish and crustaceans. It is considered to be one of the most stable and persistent pesticides, with a half life of up to 10 years. The main route of human exposure to mirex is through food, particularly meat, fish, and wild game.

* Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs) – These compounds are used in industry as heat exchange fluids, in electric transformers and capacitors, and as additives in paint, carbonless copy paper, and plastics. Of the 209 different types of PCBs, 13 exhibit a dioxin-like toxicity. Their persistence in the environment corresponds to the degree of chlorination, and half-lives can vary from 10 days to one-and-a-half years. PCBs are toxic to fish, killing them at higher doses and causing spawning failures at lower doses. Research also links PCBs to reproductive failure and suppression of the immune system in various wild animals, such as seals and mink.

Large numbers of people have been exposed to PCBs through food contamination. Consumption of PCB-contaminated rice oil in Japan in 1968 and in Taiwan in 1979 caused pigmentation of nails and mucous membranes and swelling of the eyelids, along with fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Due to the persistence of PCBs in their mothers' bodies, children born up to seven years after the Taiwan incident showed developmental delays and behavioral problems. Similarly, children of mothers who ate large amounts of contaminated fish from Lake Michigan showed poorer short-term memory function. PCBs also suppress the human immune system and are listed as probable human carcinogens.

* Toxaphene – This insecticide is used on cotton, cereal grains, fruits, nuts, and vegetables. It has also been used to control ticks and mites in livestock. Toxaphene was the most widely used pesticide in the US in 1975. Up to 50% of a toxaphene release can persist in the soil for up to 12 years. For humans, the most likely source of toxaphene exposure is food. While the toxicity to humans of direct exposure is not high, toxaphene has been listed as a possible human carcinogen due to its effects on laboratory animals. It is highly toxic to fish; brook trout exposed to toxaphene for 90 days experienced a 46% reduction in weight and reduced egg viability, and long-term exposure to levels of 0.5 micrograms per liter of water reduced egg viability to zero. Thirty-seven countries have banned toxaphene, and 11 others have severely restricted its use.

UNITED NATIONS

ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME

The international community’s response to POPs

June 1998 – More than three decades ago, Rachel Carson’s "Silent Spring" highlighted the risks of DDT and other pesticides by evoking the haunting image of a springtime without birds. The resulting media attention led to legal action by several countries to ban or severely restrict the use of DDT in the early 1970s. Governments moved to ban or restrict other chemical compounds as well in response to growing scientific evidence that they too were toxic to humans and animals.

Since then, many countries have adopted national legislation to regulate the production and use of hazardous chemicals. However, because POPs circulate globally, no country acting alone can protect its citizens or its environment from them. United action by the international community is essential.

Fortunately, there are alternatives to most POPs. The problem is that high costs, a lack of public awareness, and the absence of appropriate infrastructure and technology often prevent their adoption. Therefore, to minimize the need for using POPs, the international community will have to exploit all the tools at its disposal, including education, incentives, regulations, and, when necessary, bans.

Solutions must be tailored to the specific properties and uses of each chemical, as well as to each country's climatic and socio-economic conditions. But action must be taken quickly: the persistence of these chemicals in water and soil and their accumulation in living tissue means that each year that passes without a solution will result in decades of additional exposures.

The first step: better coordination

Prior to 1992, international action on chemicals primarily involved developing the tools for risk assessment and conducting international assessments of priority chemicals. This work was done largely by the Chemicals Programme of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD); by the joint International Programme on Chemical Safety of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Health Organization (WHO), and the International Labour Organization (ILO); and by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Then in 1992, governments met at the Rio Earth Summit and adopted Agenda 21, which includes Chapter 19 on the "Environmentally Sound Management of Toxic Chemicals Including Prevention of Illegal International Traffic in Toxic and Dangerous Products". This chapter called for the creation of an Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS) to promote the coordination of international work on chemicals. Since being established in 1994, the IFCS has provided policy guidance and strategies for harmonizing risk assessment methods and chemical classification. It has also contributed to streng-thening information exchange, risk reduction, chemicals management capacity-building, and so forth.

Meanwhile, the Inter-Organization Programme on the Sound Management of Chemicals (IOMC) was established to promote coordination among international organizations involved in implementing Chapter 19 of Agenda 21. The IOMC’s current membership includes UNEP, ILO, FAO, WHO, the UN Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), the UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), and the OECD.

The second step: regulating international trade

Steps to regulate international trade in hazardous chemicals started with the FAO’s International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides (as amended in 1989) and UNEP’s London Guidelines for the Exchange of Information on Chemicals in International Trade (amended 1989). Together, these instruments led to the creation of the voluntary Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure, which is jointly administered by FAO and UNEP.

The Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure is a means for formally obtaining and disseminating the decisions of importing countries as to whether they wish to receive future shipments of a certain chemical and for ensuring compliance to these decisions by exporting countries. The aim is to promote a shared responsibility between exporting and importing countries in protecting human health and the environment from the harmful effects of such chemicals. The voluntary PIC procedure has covered 22 pesticides and five industrial chemicals – among which are seven of the 12 POPs.

The voluntary PIC system has worked well, and 154 countries have participated in the procedure. By the mid-1990s, however, governments saw the need for a legally binding treaty to govern trade in these hazardous chemicals. Treaty negotiations began in 1996 and, after five sessions, 95 countries agreed in March 1998 to the draft text of a Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade. The treaty is expected to be adopted and opened for signature at a high-level Diplomatic Conference in Rotterdam on 10 - 11 September.

The third step: minimizing releases and emissions

In May 1995, UNEP’s Governing Council called for an international assessment of the 12 recognized POPs (Decision 18/32). In response, the Inter-Organization Programme on the Sound Management of Chemicals summarized the scientific literature on POPs and consolidated the available information on their chemistry, toxicity, environmental dispersion, and other relevant properties.

In the following November, a major meeting in Washington DC – the Intergovernmental Conference to Adopt a Global Programme of Action for Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-Based Activities – called for talks on a legally binding treaty to reduce or eliminate the discharge, manufacture, and use of the 12 POPs. The Washington Declaration stipulated that any such treaty must take into account the circumstances of countries that might need assistance in reducing or eliminating POPs.

The Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety concluded in June 1996 that there was sufficient evidence that international action – including a global legally binding instrument – was needed to reduce the risks posed by POPs to human health and the environment. These recommendations were forwarded to UNEP’s Governing Council and WHO’s World Health Assembly.

In February 1997, UNEP’s Governing Council responded to the growing calls for action by providing the mandate for an intergovernmental negotiating committee (INC) to prepare a POPs treaty (Decision 19/13C). The talks, which start with a first round on 29 June in Montreal, are to be completed by the year 2000.

The Governing Council asked the INC to establish an expert group to develop science-based criteria and procedures for identifying POPs that might be added to the agreed 12 for possible future action. It also called for work on developing and sharing information; evaluating and monitoring response strategies; determining alternatives to POPs; identifying and inventorying PCBs; quantifying the available capacity for incinerating or destroying unwanted stocks; and identifying sources of dioxin and furan emissions.

Decision 19/13C recommended that the INC give due consideration to the recent development by the UN Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) of a POPs protocol under the Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution. The draft text contains detailed procedures for minimizing and, in some cases, banning the use or production of 16 POPs. European countries are to adopt this protocol on 24 June 1998 at the pan-European Ministerial meeting in Aarhus, Denmark.

Principles for a POPs treaty

While it is still too early to predict what terms the POPs agreement will contain, the technical work described above suggests that the future treaty may need to identify uses, sources, and alternatives to both POPs and the processes that generate them. It may also need to specify how to build national capacity for managing and reducing the risks from POPs. In addition, UNEP’s Governing Council has embraced certain principles that may be incorporated into the final document, including:

* Each POP is different. The initial target list of 12 POPs includes pesticides, industrial chemicals, and unintentional byproducts. Any plan of action will need to take different approaches to these different categories of pollutants. The promotion of safer alternatives might work for pesticides, but would be less appropriate for dioxins and furans, which are unintentional byproducts of other industrial processes. Reducing the discharge of these pollutants will require companies and municipal waste incinerators to adopt cleaner technologies and modify existing manufacturing processes.

* Each country is different. UNEP’s Governing Council stated that any treaty should take into account "the special needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition". These states often cannot afford to adopt alternative products because they are more expensive. They cannot always afford new and cleaner industrial technologies. They often do not have the infrastructure to distribute alternatives to POPs, to disseminate information about such alternatives, or to monitor and enforce restrictions on POP use. Any legally binding agreement may therefore need to address the issues of technology transfer and financial support for poorer nations.

* There is no magic bullet. No single uniform solution can be applied to the problem of POPs. Options for action include promoting reductions in POPs releases through specific technology requirements, adopting national targets, and completely banning production and use. One solution may be the safe and effective management of existing stocks of POPs that are out of production. Education about the proper use of insecticides may help to reduce releases, while improved enforcement and monitoring may discourage misuse. For some POPs, public awareness campaigns may lead to the widespread use of safer alternatives, while for others legal restrictions or bans may be required. The Governing Council recognized that phase-in periods will be required for implementing any treaty commitments. It also called on governments to take voluntary measures irrespective of any treaty, and it asked the various regional and international initiatives on POPs to coordinate their efforts.

* Science has a vital role. The Governing Council viewed the input of scientific and technical experts as critical. A rigorous determination of the risks of POPs, specific guidelines for their safe elimination or (at a minimum) their safe and proper use, and ongoing research into safer alternatives and cleaner manufacturing processes will all play a large role in any international action plan.

UNITED NATIONS

ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME

The POPs negotiations: A glossary

This glossary contains some of the most common acronyms and jargon likely to be encountered by participants and observers at the first round of talks in Montreal.

I) The Players

Bureau – Responsible for directing the work of the INC. Its members are delegates elected by each of the five regional groups; they normally include the Chair, Vice-Chairs, and the Rapporteur.

Chair (or chairman etc.) – The participating governments elect a Chair from amongst the delegates. The Chair is responsible for facilitating progress towards an agreement and normally serves until the negotiations have concluded.

Conference of the Parties (COP) – Some years from now, after the POPs agreement has been adopted and has entered into force, a COP may be designated as the treaty’s supreme body. All Parties will be members.

countries with economies in transition (EIT) – Those Central and East European countries and former republics of the Soviet Union that are in transition to a market economy.

European Union (EU) – Member states meet as a group to discuss various issues; they are Austria, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, and the UK.

friends of the chair – Delegates who are called upon by the Chair (who takes into account the need for a political balance amongst various interests) to assist in carrying out specific tasks.

Group of 77 and China – The G-77 was founded in 1967 under the auspices of the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development (UNCTAD). It seeks to harmonize the negotiating positions of its 132 developing-country members.

Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) – UNEP’s Governing Council provided a mandate for the creation of an INC to conduct the POPs talks. All members of the UN or its specialized agencies may participate in the work of an INC as negotiating parties.

JUSSCANNZ – The non-EU industrialized countries meet as a group to discuss various issues; they are Japan, the US, Switzerland, Canada, Australia, Norway, and New Zealand. Iceland, Mexico, and Turkey may also attend the meetings.

national delegation – One or more officials who are empowered to represent and negotiate on behalf of their government.

non-governmental organizations (NGOs) – Many relevant NGOs attend intergovernmental meetings as observers in order to interact with delegates and the press and provide information. NGOs must be non-profit and can include environmental groups, research institutions, business groups, and associations of urban and local governments.

observer – INCs normally permit observers to attend their meetings. Observers may include the United Nations and its specialized agencies, the International Atomic Energy Agency, observer states, and other relevant intergovernmental or non-government organizations.

OECD – The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development comprises Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the UK, and the US.

Party – A state (or regional economic integration organization such as the EC) that agrees to be bound by a treaty and for which the treaty has entered into force.

regional groups – The five regional groups meet privately to discuss issues and nominate Bureau members and other officials. They are Africa, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC), and the Western Europe and Others Group (WEOG).

Secretariat – The Executive Director and the staff of UNEP are responsible for servicing the INC, including the preparation of documents and meeting arrangements. Within UNEP, the Geneva-based UNEP Chemicals division is coordinating the organization of the POPs INC.

United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – Based in Nairobi, UNEP facilitates and conducts assessments, develops guidelines, and otherwise supports intergovernmental processes.

WEOG – The Western Europe and Others Group comprises West European states, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the US.

II) The action (meetings, documents, process)

agenda – A programme of work that the INC adopts and uses to guide its work; the annotated agenda contains a more detailed explanation of each agenda item.
Conference Room Papers (CRPs) – A category of in-session documents containing new proposals or outcomes of in-session work for use during the session.
consensus – An agreement can be adopted by consensus rather than by a vote when there are no stated objections from delegations.
decision – A formal agreement at the plenary which directs the work of the INC.
documents – Official meeting documents are available to everyone and feature the logos of the United Nations and UNEP and a reference number (such as UNEP/POPS/INC.1/1). Pre-session documents are available before the meeting in all six UN languages (see http://irptc.unep.ch/pops/). In-session documents are distributed on-site and may include CRPs, L docs, and nonpapers. Informal documents are often distributed outside the meeting room by observers.
drafting groups – To facilitate negotiations, the Chair may establish smaller drafting groups to meet separately and in private to prepare text. Observers generally may not attend.
entry into force – Intergovernmental agreements are not legally binding until they have been ratified by a certain number of countries. Recent global environmental treaties have required 30 - 55 ratifications to start a 90-day countdown to entry into force.
informal contact group – On the instructions of the Chair, delegates may meet in private to discuss specific matters in order to consolidate different views, reach a compromise, and produce an agreed proposal, often in the form of a written text.
L. docs – In-session documents that contain draft reports or texts and are for limited distribution.
meetings and sessions – Each session of the INC is divided into a number of meetings. Each meeting is generally scheduled from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. or from 3 p.m. to 6 p.m., so that the morning of 29 June will be the first meeting of the first session.
non-papers – Issued informally to facilitate negotiations; they do not have an official document symbol although they may have an identifying number or the name of the authors.
plenary – An open meeting of the entire INC where all formal decisions are taken.
ratification – After signing a treaty, a country must ratify it, often with the approval of the parliament or other legislature. The instrument of ratification must be deposited with the Depositary, who is often the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
rules of procedure – The rules that govern the organization and proceedings of the INC, including the procedures for decision-making and voting and for participation.
signature – The head of state or government, the foreign minister, or another designated official indicates his or her country’s agreement with the adopted text of a treaty and its intention to become a Party by signing it.
square brackets – Used during negotiations to indicate that a section of text is being discussed but has not yet been agreed.
working group – The Chair may establish a meeting wherein delegates can negotiate before forwarding agreed text to the INC plenary for its consideration and eventual adoption.

III) The issues

bioaccumulation – The ability of a chemical to accumulate in living tissue at levels higher than those in the surrounding environment. See also bioconcentration factor.
bioavailability – The extent to which a substance absorbed by an organism is available to enter into biological interactions.
bioconcentration factor (BCF) – The ratio of a chemical’s concentration in an organism to its concentration in the environment or food. It generally indicates the presence of a chemical substance in higher concentrations in an organism than in the direct environment or its food.
biodegradable – Refers to any substance that decomposes through the action of micro-organisms.
carcinogen – A chemical, physical, or biological substance that is capable of causing cancer.
chemical – A substance that does not include living matter. A chemical can exist alone or in a mixture or preparation; it can be manufactured or obtained from nature.
contaminant – An undesired physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance.
criteria – Specific quantitative or qualitative values for chosen parameters that are used to identify which chemicals should be classified as POPs.
cut-off values – Specific quantitative values for criteria that are used as thresholds for identifying chemicals as POPs.
debilitation – The state of weakness or feebleness.
deposit – An accumulation or laying down of a chemical from a specific source.
emission – The release of a substance into the atmosphere from either a "point" or a "diffuse" source. (A point source is one whose dimensions are small compared with the distance to the observation point, e.g. a smokestack seen from afar.)
endocrine disrupter – A substance that affects the endocrine (hormone-producing) function, thus causing adverse health effects on an organism or its offspring.
exposure – The act or fact of exposing or being exposed to a substance.
genotoxic – Refers to a chemical's potential to modify the genetic code (DNA).
grasshopper effect – The process by which POPs circulate globally through the atmosphere via repeated release (evaporation) and deposit (e.g. through rainfall).
half-life – The time required for half of a given quantity of a substance to break down and disappear.
Henry’s law – A law stating that the amount of gas that will dissolve in a given quantity of liquid is proportional to the partial pressure of the gas above the liquid at constant temperature.
hydrolysis – The cleaving of a molecule by the addition of water.
hypersensitivity – A state of increased susceptibility, such as an allergic reaction, to an antigen to which the organism has been previously exposed. (An antigen is a substance that stimulates the production of antibodies when introduced into the body.)
incinerator – A furnace in which wastes are burned.
insecticide – A substance or a mixture of substances for destroying or repelling any type of insect.
metabolism – The sum of all the chemical and physical processes within a living organism.
mutagenic – See genotoxic.
octanol-water partitioning constant (Kow) – The ratio of a chemical’s concentration in water to its concentration in octonal as determined in a laboratory test is used to measure the chemical’s potential to accumulate in fatty tissue. A substance with a high partition coefficient is likely to bioaccumulate.
organic persistent pollutants (POPs) – Organic (carbon-based) substances that persist in the environment, bioaccumulate in living tissue, and pose a risk to human health and the environment.
persistence – Refers to a chemical’s ability to remain stable and not break down.
pesticide – A substance or a mixture of substances for destroying or repelling any type of pest, including fungi, insects, and termites.
photolysis – The decomposition of a substance into simpler units due to its absorption of light.
reproductive disorders – Refers to negative effects on the reproductive system and on the production of offspring.
toxicity – The ability of a chemical to cause injury to humans or the environment. An acute toxic reaction occurs soon after exposure, while chronic reactions are experience long after the exposure.
volatility – The ability of a chemical to evaporate into air.