POPRC.14 of Stockholm Convention - PFOA Ban Recommended, and More

23/09/2018

2018.09.23 #POPs #Stockholm Convention #POPRC #PFAS

The Fourteenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC.14) of Stockholm Convention was held in FAO (Food and Agriculture Organizaiton) headquarter in Rome, Italy, from 17 to 21 September 2018. A brief summary of the meeting outcome:

- PFOA: POPRC recommended governments at the next Conference of the Parties (COP) in April 2019 should list PFOA for global elimination in Annex A of the convention. PFOA, used in non-stick cookware, food processing appliances, and firefighting foams, is a major source of water pollution.

- PFHxS, its salts and PFHxS-related compounds: POPRC 14 determined that perfluorohexane sulfonate (PFHxS) warrants global action, and decided to establish an intersessional working group to prepare a draft risk management evaluation. PFHxS has been promoted as a substitute for PFOS. It has a variety of uses including in firefighting foams and as water- and stain-protective coatings for carpets, paper, leather and textiles. It is extremely persistent and is found in human blood, breast milk and umbilical cord blood. PFHxS has been found to have the potential to negatively affects liver function, the thyroid, and the developing immune system, resulting in reduced effects of vaccines in children.

- PFOS: when PFOS was added to the Stockholm Convention in 2009, many uses were exempted and allowed to continue. POPRC 14 recommended closing the loophole starting with banning PFOS use in hard metal plating. POPRC 14 also recommended that a currently-used insecticide, sulfluramid, that degrades to PFOS, should be named explicitly in the treaty and its use should be narrowed to agriculture to prevent rampant consumer use and exposure.

There will be a webinar on the POPRC 14 outcome on Oct 9th & 11th kindly held by the secretariat.

Please refer to POPRC 14 webpage & IPEN press release for more information.