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ELS-ED: Europoslankyně Avril Doyle varuje před perzistentními organickými polutanty
Health and environment at risk but DDT necessary for fight against Malaria.
Speaking in the European Parliament in Brussels today (Wednesday 27 April) Avril Doyle MEP for the East warned against the dangers of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), toxic substances which pose a serious threat to human health and to the environment and respect no national boundaries.
Avril Doyle MEP, who will lead the European Parliament's Delegation to the First Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on POPs to be held in Uruguay next week (from 2-6 May 2005) explained "POPs are chemical substances that break down very slowly in the environment, accumulate in our bodies and are spread through the air and through the food chain very far from their sources, even to regions where they have never been used or produced. They include pesticides (such as DDT) industrial chemicals (such as polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs) and unintentional by-products of industrial processes (such as dioxins and furans)."
To eliminate or reduce production, use and releases of these substances two international, legally binding instruments have been set up - the UNECE Protocol on Transboundary Air Pollution and the Stockholm Convention on POPs. Both have been signed and ratified by the European Community as well as most of the Member States. Although Ireland has signed both, we have failed to ratify either of them in time to participate in the implementation process which is due to begin next week in Uruguay.
As part of the EU Delegation, Avril Doyle will be pushing to include a further 4 substances to the list of POPs to be restricted. She said "Once POPs are released into the environment, it is almost impossible to predict where they will end up, so we should apply the precautionary principle and take steps to restrict them.
"Having said this", she underlined "it is important that we take the needs of developing countries into account and allow controlled exemptions, even for the most harmful of substances, if there is an overriding benefit to be gained from the use of a POP.
"For example, DDT, a pesticide that was banned in Europe many years ago, is an essential weapon in the fight against Malaria, which is one of the world's greatest killers. Every 30 seconds a child in Africa dies of Malaria, 3000 children die every day. One million people die of it annually worldwide and 40% of the world's population is at risk of contracting Malaria. While research is being conducted into alternatives, at present, the insecticide DDT is the only viable option for preventing the spread of this disease. In Africa and elsewhere, Malaria parasites have developed resistance to one drug after another and many other insecticides are no longer useful against mosquitoes transmitting the disease.
"Although scientists are redoubling the search, an effective vaccine is at best years away. Ourr approach must proportionate to the risk. To ban all uses of DDT without taking the benefits into account would be to issue a death sentence to many vulnerable populations", she concluded.
Speaking in the European Parliament in Brussels today (Wednesday 27 April) Avril Doyle MEP for the East warned against the dangers of persistent organic pollutants (POPs), toxic substances which pose a serious threat to human health and to the environment and respect no national boundaries.
Avril Doyle MEP, who will lead the European Parliament's Delegation to the First Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on POPs to be held in Uruguay next week (from 2-6 May 2005) explained "POPs are chemical substances that break down very slowly in the environment, accumulate in our bodies and are spread through the air and through the food chain very far from their sources, even to regions where they have never been used or produced. They include pesticides (such as DDT) industrial chemicals (such as polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs) and unintentional by-products of industrial processes (such as dioxins and furans)."
To eliminate or reduce production, use and releases of these substances two international, legally binding instruments have been set up - the UNECE Protocol on Transboundary Air Pollution and the Stockholm Convention on POPs. Both have been signed and ratified by the European Community as well as most of the Member States. Although Ireland has signed both, we have failed to ratify either of them in time to participate in the implementation process which is due to begin next week in Uruguay.
As part of the EU Delegation, Avril Doyle will be pushing to include a further 4 substances to the list of POPs to be restricted. She said "Once POPs are released into the environment, it is almost impossible to predict where they will end up, so we should apply the precautionary principle and take steps to restrict them.
"Having said this", she underlined "it is important that we take the needs of developing countries into account and allow controlled exemptions, even for the most harmful of substances, if there is an overriding benefit to be gained from the use of a POP.
"For example, DDT, a pesticide that was banned in Europe many years ago, is an essential weapon in the fight against Malaria, which is one of the world's greatest killers. Every 30 seconds a child in Africa dies of Malaria, 3000 children die every day. One million people die of it annually worldwide and 40% of the world's population is at risk of contracting Malaria. While research is being conducted into alternatives, at present, the insecticide DDT is the only viable option for preventing the spread of this disease. In Africa and elsewhere, Malaria parasites have developed resistance to one drug after another and many other insecticides are no longer useful against mosquitoes transmitting the disease.
"Although scientists are redoubling the search, an effective vaccine is at best years away. Ourr approach must proportionate to the risk. To ban all uses of DDT without taking the benefits into account would be to issue a death sentence to many vulnerable populations", she concluded.
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