Unit 9

1. Unit 9 Hazardous Chemicals

2. Unit 9 Any questions before we begin?

3. Unit 9 This is our last seminar! Please be aware that all assignments are due by the end of Unit 10, NO EXCEPTIONS!

4. Hazardous Chemicals • Global policy for management of hazardous chemicals • Three (3) multilateral environmental agreements we will look at: • 1989 Basel Convention • 1998 Rotterdam Convention • 2001 Stockholm Convention • Majority of info for today from wikipedia.com

5. Basel • 1989 Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal • International treaty that was designed to reduce the movements of hazardous waste between nations, and specifically to prevent transfer of hazardous waste from developed to less developed countries (LDCs). • It does not, however, address the movement of radioactive waste. The Convention is also intended to minimize the amount and toxicity of wastes generated, to ensure their environmentally sound management as closely as possible to the source of generation, and to assist LDCs in environmentally sound management of the hazardous and other wastes they generate. • The Convention was opened for signature on 22 March 1989, and entered into force on 5 May 1992. • A list of parties to the Convention, and their ratification status, can be found on the Basel Secretariat's web page. Of the 175 parties to the Convention, only Afghanistan, Haiti, and the United States have signed the Convention but not yet ratified it.

6. Basel History • With the tightening of environmental laws (e.g., RCRA) in developed nations in the 1970s, disposal costs for hazardous waste rose dramatically. At the same time, globalization of shipping made transboundary movement of waste more accessible, and many LDCs were desperate for foreign currency. Consequently, the trade in hazardous waste, particularly to LDCs, grew rapidly. • One of the incidents which led to the creation of the Basel Convention was the Khian Sea waste disposal incident, in which a ship carrying incinerator ash from the city of Philadelphia in the United States after having dumped half of its load on a beach in Haiti, was forced away where it sailed for many months, changing its name several times. Unable to unload the cargo in any port, the crew was believed to have dumped much of it at sea. • Another is the 1988 Koko case in which 5 ships transported 8,000 barrels of hazardous waste from Italy to the small town of Koko in Nigeria in exchange for $100 monthly rent which was paid to a Nigerian for the use of his farmland. • These practices have been deemed "Toxic Colonialism" by many developing countries. • At its most recent meeting, November 27–December 1, 2006, the Conference of the Parties of the Basel Agreement focused on issues of electronic waste and the dismantling of ships. • According to Maureen Walsh in "The global trade in hazardous wastes: domestic and international attempts to cope with a growing crisis in waste management" 42 Cath. U. Law Review 103 (1992), only around 4% of hazardous wastes that come from OECD countries are actually shipped across international borders. These wastes include, among others, chemical waste, radioactive waste, municipal solid waste, asbestos, incinerator ash, and old tires. Of internationally shipped waste that comes from developed countries, more than half is shipped for recovery and the remainder for final disposal. • Increased trade in recyclable materials has led to an increase in a market for used products such as computers. This market is valued in billions of dollars. At issue is the distinction when used computers stop being a "commodity" and become a "waste".

7. Basel Definition of Waste • A waste will fall under the scope of the Convention if it is within the category of wastes listed in Annex I of the Convention and it does exhibit one of the hazardous characteristics contained in Annex III. • In other words it must both be listed and contain a characteristic such as being explosive, flammable, toxic, or corrosive. • The other way that a waste may fall under the scope of the Convention is if it is defined as or considered to be a hazardous waste under the laws of either the exporting country, the importing country, or and of the countries of transit. • The definition of the term disposal is made in Article 2 al 4 and just refers to annex IV, which gives a list of operations which are understood as disposal or recovery. The examples of disposal are broad and include also recovery, recycling. • Annex II lists other wastes such as household wastes and residue that comes from incinerating household waste. • Radioactive waste that is covered under other international control systems and wastes from the normal operation of ships is not covered. • Annex IX attempts to define "commodities" which are not considered wastes and which would be excluded.

8. Basel Obligations • In addition to conditions on the import and export of the above wastes, there are stringent requirements for notice, consent and tracking for movement of wastes across national boundaries. It is of note that the Convention places a general prohibition on the exportation or importation of wastes between Parties and non-Parties. The exception to this rule is where the waste is subject to another treaty that does not take away from the Basel Convention. The United States is a notable non-Party to the Convention and has a number of such agreements for allowing the shipping of hazardous wastes to Basel Party countries. • The OECD Council also has its own control system that governs the trans-boundary movement of hazardous materials between OECD member countries. This allows, among other things, the OECD countries to continue trading in wastes with countries like the United States that have not ratified the Basel Convention. • Parties to the Convention must honor import bans of other Parties. • Article 4 of the Basel Convention calls for an overall reduction of waste generation. By encouraging countries to keep wastes within their boundaries and as close as possible to its source of generation, the internal pressures should provide incentives for waste reduction and pollution prevention. • The Convention states that illegal hazardous waste traffic is criminal but contains no enforcement provisions. • According to Article 12, Parties are directed to adopt a protocol that establishes liability rules and procedures that are appropriate for damage that comes from the movement of hazardous waste across borders.

9. Ban Amendment to Basel • After the initial adoption of the Convention, some LDCs and environmental organizations argued that it did not go far enough. Many nations and NGOs argued for a total ban on shipment of all hazardous waste to LDCs. In particular, the original Convention did not prohibit waste exports to any location except Antarctica but merely required a notification and consent system known as "prior informed consent" or PIC. Further, many waste traders sought to exploit the good name of recycling and begin to justify all exports as moving to recycling destinations. Many believed a full ban was needed including exports for recycling. These concerns led to several regional waste trade bans, including the Bamako Convention. • Lobbying at the 1995 Basel conference by LDCs, Greenpeace and key European countries such as Denmark, led to a decision to adopt the Basel Ban Amendment to the Basel Convention. Not yet in force, but considered morally binding by signatories, the Amendment prohibits the export of hazardous waste from a list of developed (mostly OECD) countries to developing countries. • The Basel Ban applies to export for any reason, including recycling. An area of special concern for advocates of the Amendment was the sale of ships for salvage, shipbreaking. • The Ban Amendment was strenuously opposed by a number of industry groups as well as nations including Australia and Canada. The number of ratification for the entry-into force of the Ban Amendment is under debate: Amendments to the convention enter into force after ratification of "three-fourths of the Parties who accepted them" [Art. 17.5]; so far, the Parties of the Basel Convention could not yet agree whether this would be three fourth of the Parties that were Party to the Basel Convention when the Ban was adopted, or three fourth of the current Parties of the Convention[see Report of COP 9 of the Basel Convention]. • The European Union fully implemented the Basel Ban in its Waste Shipment Regulation (EWSR), making it legally binding in all EU member states. Norway and Switzerland have similarly fully implemented the Basel Ban in their legislation.

10. Rotterdam • 1998 Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade • Multilateral treaty to promote shared responsibilities in relation to importation of hazardous chemicals. • The convention promotes open exchange of information and calls on exporters of hazardous chemicals to use proper labeling, include directions on safe handling, and inform purchasers of any known restrictions or bans. • Parties can decide whether to allow or ban the importation of chemicals listed in the treaty, and exporting countries are obliged make sure that producers within their jurisdiction comply.

11. Rotterdam • As your textbook notes, the Convention’s core regulatory procedure can be divided into two phases: information exchange and prior informed consent. • First, parties notify the PIC Secretariat about any national regulatory action that bans or severely restricts a particular toxic chemical or substance. After a required number of notifications of regulatory actions have been received, a decision is made to include the chemical in the PIC list and is sent to all parties. • During the second stage, potential importing parties formally declare if they (a) consent to receive future imports of the chemical; (b) do not consent; or (c) will consent under certain conditions. • The Secretariat then distributes the responses, and potential exporters must abide by the decisions.

12. Rotterdam Chemicals Affected • 2,4,5-T and its salts and esters • Aldrin • Asbestos - Actinolite, Anthophyllite, Amosite, Crocidolite, and Tremolite only • Benomyl (certain formulations) • Binapacryl • Captafol • Carbofuran (certain formulations) • Chlordane • Chlordimeform • Chlorobenzilate • DDT • Dieldrin • Dinitro-ortho-cresol (DNOC) and its salts • Dinoseb and its salts and esters • 1,2-dibromoethane (EDB) • Ethylene dichloride • Ethylene oxide • Fluoroacetamide • Hexachlorocyclohexane (mixed isomers) • Heptachlor • Hexachlorobenzene • Lindane • Mercury compounds including inorganic and organometallic mercury compounds • Methamidophos (certain formulations) • Methyl parathion (certain formulations) • Monocrotophos • Parathion • Pentachlorophenol and its salts and esters • Phosphamidon (certain formulations) • Polybrominated biphenyls (PBB) • Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB) • Polychlorinated terphenyls (PCT) • Tetraethyl lead • Tetramethyl lead • Thiram (certain formulations) • Toxaphene • Tris (2,3-dibromopropyl) phosphate (TRIS)

13. Stockholm • 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants • International environmental treaty that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). • The 2001 Stockholm Convention seeks to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs) by regulating their production, use, trade, and disposal. • POPs comprise a set of extremely toxic, long-lasting chemicals that can travel long distances from their emission source and accumulate in animals, ecosystems, and people.

14. Stockholm History • In 1995, the Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) called for global action to be taken on POPs, which it defined as "chemical substances that persist in the environment, bio-accumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and the environment". • Following this, the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS) and the International Programme on Chemical Safety (IPCS) prepared an assessment of the 12 worst offenders, known as the dirty dozen. • The negotiations for the Convention were completed on 23 May 2001 in Stockholm. The convention entered into force on 17 May 2004 with ratification by an initial 128 parties and 151 signatories. Co-signatories agree to outlaw nine of the dirty dozen chemicals, limit the use of DDT to malaria control, and curtail inadvertent production of dioxins and furans. • Parties to the convention have agreed to a process by which persistent toxic compounds can be reviewed and added to the convention, if they meet certain criteria for persistence and transboundary threat. The first set of new chemicals to be added to the Convention were agreed at a conference in Geneva on 8 May 2009. • As of January 2011, there are 172 parties to the Convention

15. Who cares about POPs? • I want to move away from the treaty for a bit and discuss what POPs are and why they are bad. • Material is not found in your text. • Today’s seminar is taken mainly from information distributed by the World Health Organization (“WHO”) www.who.int

16. What are POPs? • Synthetic organic chemicals • Persistent in environment • Long-range transport leads to global pollution • Lipophilic(Literally "fat-loving". Applied to molecular entities (or parts of molecular entities) having a tendency to dissolve in fat-like (e.g. hydrocarbon) solvents.) • Accumulate in food chain • High levels in fish and marine mammals • Acute toxicity well characterized

17. POPs • Pesticides: Aldrin, Dieldrin, Chlordane, DDT, Endrin, Heptachlor, Mirex, Toxaphene • Industrial Chemicals: PCBs and HCB • Unintended By-Products: Dibenzodioxins, Dibenzofurans • The Stockholm Convention is a global treaty ratified by the international community and led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) that calls for the elimination and/or phasing out of 12 POPs, called the "dirty dozen".

18. POPs—Pesticides • Endrin: White, odorless, crystalline solid (pure); light tan color with faint chemical odor • Heptachlor: White to light tan, waxy solid or crystals with a camphor-like odor • Mirex: White crystalline, odorless solid • Toxaphene: Yellow, waxy solid with a chlorine/terpene-like odor

19. POPs—Industrial Chemicals • PCBs: Polychlorinated biphenyls • Trade Names for different mixtures (partial list): Aroclor, Pyranol, Pyroclor, Phenochlor, Pyralene, Clophen, Elaol, Kanechlor, Santotherm, Fenchlor, Apirolio, Sovol • HCB: Hexachlorobenzene • White monoclinic crystals or crystalline solid

20. POPs—Unintended By-Products Dibenzodioxins and dibenzofurans • Byproducts of production of other chemicals • Detected in incineration of coal, peat, wood, hospital waste, hazardous waste, municipal waste, car emissions • Of 210 dioxins and furans, 17 are in toxic mixtures

21. Examples of Effects of POPs on Wildlife • Potential Effects • Reproductive impairment and malformations • Immune system is sensitive • Altered liver enzyme function • Increased risk of tumors • Studied Effects • Mammals: reproductive and immune effects in Baltic seals • Birds: eggshell thinning, gonadal and embryo alterations • Reptiles: decline in number of alligators • Fish: reproductive alterations • Snails: masculinization and population decrease (marine)

22. POPs in the Environment • POPs have an anthropogenic origin: industrial processes, waste (e.g. medical), traffic and agriculture. A few may be of natural origin, e.g. from volcanic eruptions. • POPs are released into air, water and land – from where they deposit into water, sediment, and enter the food-chain • POPs are globally distributed through the air and ocean currents – they travel long distances and enter into atmospheric processes, air–water exchange and cycles involving rain, snow and dry particles. These processes lead to the exposure of even remote populations of humans and animals that depend on aquatic foods. Humans and animals are exposed mainly via ingestion of contaminated aquatic foodstuffs. • POPs travel long distances and are found in places far away from industrial sites or from agricultural areas, such as the Arctic circle.

23. An Example: PCBs • Widely used, released into the environment • Caused mass-poisoning episodes • Effects in animals: reproductive, immune, carcinogenic • Effects in humans after high-level exposure: • "Yusho" and "Yu-Cheng" episodes • Effects of long-term, low-level exposures in children are a cause for concern…

24. An Example: PCBs • Effects in humans after high-level exposure: • Skin rash, eyelid swelling • Hyperpigmentation • Headaches, vomiting • Effects of long-term exposures: • Hepato-, immuno-, reproductive and dermal toxicities • Fetal exposures to PCBs: • Neural and developmental changes • Lower psychomotor scores • Short-term memory and spatial learning effects • Long-term effects on intellectual function

25. PCBs: Human Health Incidents • Toxic effects at high levels of exposure, accidental or occupational: • Dermal • Ocular • Blood and liver enzyme alteration • Respiratory • Immune system • Neurological system • Reproductive • Developmental • "Yusho" & "Yu-Cheng“ (Two important mass-poisoning episodes have occurred: one in Japan ("Yusho", in the 1960s) and one in China, Province of Taiwan ("Yu-Cheng" in the 1970s)) • Adverse, persistent effects in newborns • Low birth weight • Reduced growth • Hyperpigmentation • Gingival hyperplasia • Eye oedema • Dentition at birth • Skull calcifications

26. Main Route of Exposure to PCBs: Dietary • As with many POPs, the main source of human exposure is dietary. • Over the years, thousands of different food samples have been analyzed, in several countries, for contaminants, including PCBs. Most samples have been from fish, meat and milk. • Food becomes contaminated with PCBs through three main routes: • a) uptake from the environment by fish, birds, livestock (via food-chain), and also into crops; • b) migration from packaging materials into food; • c) direct contamination of foodstuff or animal feed as the result of an industrial accident or incident.

27. Another Example: DDT • Widely used in the past • Malaria control in 12 countries! • Adverse effects in animals • Reproductive, immune, neurological • Estrogenic and anti-androgenic effects • Liver effects and carcinogenesis • Few studies of effects on children's health and development • Exposure linked to preterm delivery, reduced birth weight and shortened lactation

28. EVOLVING EVIDENCE: LONG-TERM DDT EFFECTS? • Association with birth weight and length of gestation (Farhang 2005) • Reduced seminal parameters (De Jager 2006) • Impaired semen quality (Aneck-Hahn 2007) • Male genital anomalies (Bhatia 2005) • Breast cancer in young women (Cohn 2007) • In utero exposure assoc with neurodevelopment (Eskenazi2006) • Assoc with infant neurodevelopment ( Torres-Sánchez 2007) • Beneficial effects of breastfeeding on cognition regardless of DDT concentrations at birth (Ribas-Fitó 2007)

29. Another Example: Dioxins • Detectable in trace amounts in all parts of ecosystem • Dioxins and furans: 210 compounds: 17 highly toxic • Seveso: release of high levels of dioxin in industrial accident (1976) • Considered one of the most toxic man-made compounds • Sources in developing countries: • Production and use of chlor-organic chemicals • Pulp and paper industry (bleaching) • Source in industrialized countries: • Combustion processes: waste incineration, iron and non-ferrous metal industry, … • WHO tolerable intake: 1 to 4 pg/kg body weight/day

30. Another Example: DioxinsHealth Effects • In humans: • Chloracne • Polyneuropathy (A generalized disorder of peripheral nerves) • Hepatomegaly (the condition of having an enlarged liver) • Fatigue • Depression • Porphyria • In animals: • Chloracne • Lymphatic alteration • Liver effects • Gastric lesion • Epidermal lesions • Chicken: oedema, ascites • Rats: fetal death and resorption, endocrine alterations • Mice: embryotoxicity, malformations

31. Any others? • In addition to POPs, other chemicals are characterized by their persistence in the environment • Persistent Toxic Substances (PTSs) • Can be transported long distances • Can accumulate in organisms and enter food-chain • Not "POPs" – not listed in the Stockholm Convention • Could include: mercury, cadmium, lead, polybrominateddiphenyl ethers (PBDE – flame retardants), others

32. An Example of PTSs: PBDEs • Polybrominated diphenylethers (PBDEs): • Brominated chemicals used as flame retardants (also called brominated flame retardants or BFRs) • Slow down ignition and fire growth, increasing available time to escape from a fire

33. An Example of PTSs: PBDEs • Uses: • Flame retardants in furniture foam (pentaBDE), plastics for TV cabinets, consumer electronics, wire insulation, back coatings for draperies and upholstery (decaBDE), and plastics for personal computers and small appliances (octaBDE) • Pathways into the environment: • manufacturing processes (of plastics or textiles) • aging and wear of the end consumer products • direct exposure during use (e.g. from furniture) • Potential health concerns: • Toxicological tests indicates a potential for liver and thyroid toxicity, and neurodevelopment toxicity • Traces of several PBDEs are found in human breast milk, fish, aquatic birds, and elsewhere in the environment

34. Regulation of POPs • Since they are so mobile, not only is local law important, but global initiatives are required • International treaties legal control of POPs stems from two international agreements: • Protocol to the 1979 Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution on Persistent Organic Pollutants • Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

35. POPs Any questions?

36. Unit 9 Remember the final project is 8-12 pages, NOT 1-2. There is a typo in the classroom.

37. Unit 9 • That’s all folks! • Thanks for participating this quarter! • I hope you all learned something. • It has been my pleasure to be your professor. • Please do email with any questions, etc., you may have. • Please remember all assignments, etc., are due by the end of Unit 10, NO EXCEPTIONS!!!