Table Of Contentdébut.fm Page i Tuesday, January 21, 2003 9:55 AM
NORTHERN LIGHTS AGAINST POPs
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Northern Lights
against POPs
Combatting Toxic Threats
in the Arctic
EDITED BY
DAVID LEONARD DOWNIE
TERRY FENGE
Published for the Inuit Circumpolar Conference Canada
by
McGill-Queen’s University Press
Montreal & Kingston London Ithaca
• •
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© McGill-Queen’s University Press 2003
isbn 0-7735-2448-7 (cloth)
isbn 0-7735-2482-7 (paper)
Legal deposit second quarter 2003
Bibliothèque nationale du Québec
Printed in Canada on acid-free paper.
McGill-Queen’s University Press acknowledges the support of the
Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. We also
acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada
through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program (bpidp)
for our publishing activities.
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Northern lights against pops: combatting threats in the Arctic / edited by
David Leonard Downie, Terry Fenge.
Includes bibliographical references.
isbn 0-7735-2448-7 (bnd)
isbn 0-7735-2482-7 (pbk)
1.Persistent pollutants — Health aspects — Arctic Regions. 2.Organic
compounds — Health aspects — Arctic Regions. 3.Persistent pollutants —
Environmental aspects — Arctic Regions. 4.Organic compounds —
Environmental aspects — Arctic regions. 5.Stockholm Convention on
Persistent Organic Pollutants (2001) 6.Arctic regions — Environmental
conditions. I.Downie, David Leonard II.Fenge, Terry, 1950- III.Inuit
Circumpolar Conference.
td190.5.n67 2003 363.738′4′09719 c2002-905849-x
This book was typeset by Dynagram Inc. in 10/13 Sabon.
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DEDICATION
The circumpolar region has for too long been seen by many
in southern capitals as a world on the fringe, populated by
Indigenous peoples destined for assimilation into larger,
more vibrant, and technologically modern societies. This
need not, and should not, be the case. Arctic Indigenous
peoples are committed to defending their ways of life and
the values and traditions that underlie them. Life on the
land and eating what the land provides are essential compo-
nents of Indigenous peoples’ culture. Their survival is im-
portant, for in a very real way the state of the Arctic and its
Indigenous peoples indicates to us the environmental health
of the globe. It is for this reason that we dedicate this book
to the Indigenous peoples of the circumpolar Arctic.
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Contents
Colour plates between pages 226-7
Foreword
david anderson and klaus töpfer ix
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction
david leonard downie and terry fenge xv
Acronyms and Abbreviations xxiii
Some Participants in Negotiations of the
2001 Stockholm Convention xxvii
Illustrations following page
section one
Persistent Organic Pollutants:
Global Poisons Threaten the North
1 pops, the Environment, and Public Health
eric dewailly and christopher furgal 3
2 Canadian Arctic Indigenous Peoples, Traditional
Food Systems, and pops
harriet kuhnlein, laurie h.m. chan,
grace egeland, and olivier receveur 22
3 Canadian Research and pops:
The Northern Contaminants Program
russel shearer and siu-ling han 41
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viii contents
4 Circumpolar Perspectives on Persistent Organic Pollutants:
The Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme
lars-otto reiersen, simon wilson,
and vitaly kimstach 60
5 The Deposition of Airborne Dioxin Emitted by North American
Sources on Ecologically Vulnerable Receptors in Nunavut
barry commoner, paul woods bartlett,
kimberly couchot, and holger eisl 87
section two
Regional and Global pops Policy
6 Regional pops Policy:
The unece clrtap pops Protocol
henrik selin 111
7 Global pops Policy: The 2001 Stockholm
Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants
david leonard downie 133
8 The Stockholm Convention in the Context of
International Environmental Law
nigel bankes 160
9 pops and Inuit: Influencing the Global Agenda
terry fenge 192
10 pops in Alaska: Engaging the usa
henry p. huntington and michelle sparck 214
11 The Long and Winding Road to Stockholm:
The View from the Chair
john anthony buccini 224
12 The Inuit Journey Towards a pops-free World
sheila watt-cloutier 256
appendices
1 Contributors 269
2 pops Science and Policy: A Brief Northern Lights Timeline 276
3 Glossary of Terms and Concepts: pops and International
Negotiations 283
4 The Stockholm Convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants 304
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Foreword
The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, adopted on
22May 2001, is a great achievement in humanity’s efforts to protect itself and
the environment from the threats posed by chemical pollution. For the first
time, countries worldwide have agreed to legally binding obligations to elimi-
nate or severely restrict production and use of pesticides and industrial chemi-
cals and take actions towards eliminating the release of chemical by-products.
Persistent organic pollutants represent a subset of the roughly 70,000 to
100,000 chemicals that are currently on the market. In general, industrial
chemicals and pesticides provide important benefits to societies by helping
them to produce more food for growing populations, find cures for diseases,
and develop products that make our lives easier, safer, and more productive.
However, some chemicals present unacceptable risks to human health and
the environment, and in such cases governments must take action to protect
our peoples and our environment. This is the case with the twelve persistent
organic pollutants included in the Stockholm Convention. These chemicals
persist in the environment for a long time, accumulate in the tissues of living
organisms, travel long distances, and can poison humans and wildlife. As a re-
sult, persistent organic pollutants are everywhere and can cause damage wher-
ever they are.
Scientific consensus that global action was necessary to address persistent or-
ganic pollutants took years to reach. It has been four decades since Rachel Car-
son, in her book Silent Spring, demonstrated that humans and wildlife were in
great peril from certain chemicals, including seven that are now included in the
Stockholm Convention. Many governments have since banned these chemicals
nationally. When, however, high levels of a number of the persistent organic
pollutants were found in the blood and breast milk of Inuit people of northern
Canada and in people and wildlife in other remote locations, it became clear
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that persistent organic pollutants can travel thousands of kilometres from their
sources. We are learning, too, as with persistent organic pollutants and other
environmental matters like climate change, that the Arctic is an indicator of glo-
bal environmental health.
Clearly, no country acting alone can adequately protect its citizens or its envi-
ronment from the threat of persistent organic pollutants. This was understood
by the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety in 1996, when it was con-
cluded that international action, including a global legally binding instrument,
is required to reduce the risks to human health and the environment arising
from the release of the twelve specified persistent organic pollutants (aldrin,
chlordane, ddt, dieldrin, dioxins, endrin, furans, heptachlor, hexachloroben-
zene, mirex, pcbs, and toxaphene).
On this scientific basis, the United Nations Environment Programme
launched the negotiations of a global treaty to address persistent organic pollut-
ants. With the understanding that the process would affect not only the even-
tual substance of the treaty but also the future commitment of all stakeholders
to its implementation, the negotiations were conducted in an open and trans-
parent manner that welcomed and encouraged the participation of environmen-
tal organizations, public-interest groups, industry groups, and academic
institutions. In total, 350 such organizations took part in the negotiations,
many of which became part of the International pops Elimination Network. In-
digenous peoples’ organizations played a special role in voicing a moral dimen-
sion to the treaty, a role we would encourage them to play in other global
environmental issues as well. As a result, the Stockholm Convention is highly
regarded by the governments that adopted it as well as by the full range of
stakeholders who participated in its development.
The true test of the effectiveness of the Stockholm Convention will be its abil-
ity to protect human health and the environment from persistent organic pollut-
ants. It is well designed to do so. The convention requires the elimination of
production and use of nine chemicals. The use of one chemical, ddt, will be
limited to disease vector control according to World Health Organization stan-
dards until economically feasible and effective alternatives are discovered. Of
the unintentionally produced persistent organic pollutants, most notably the di-
oxins and furans, governments are to develop action plans and other measures
to reduce their releases. For persistent organic pollutant stockpiles and wastes,
governments are to develop strategies and guidelines for their identification;
and their storage, transport, and disposal are to be undertaken in an environ-
mentally sound manner consistent with the Basel Convention on Transbound-
ary Movement of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal and other relevant
international agreements. The convention also includes criteria and a procedure
for adding new chemicals that enable it to address newly identified chemical
risks for which global action is needed.
