WWF's new issue brief on POPs

[Tina Skaar <tina.skaar@WWFUS.ORG>]

"Persistent Organic Pollutants: Hand-Me-Down Poisons that Threaten
Wildlife and People"

Persistent Organic Pollutants or POPs are synthetic chemicals with
unique and dangerous characteristics that pose a serious threat to
wildlife and humans.  POPs have four common properties: persistence,
bioaccumulation, global transport, and toxicity.  Scientific research has
revealed the alarming effects of these chemicals, which are still being
used in several parts of the world and present in all.  Today, the
contamination from POPs is a pervasive global problem that urgently
demands a global solution.  

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) has released a new briefing paper on POPs
that describes what POPs are, details some of their effects on wildlife
and humans, and outlines international efforts to phase out and ban
these harmful contaminants.  Persistent Organic Pollutants:
Hand-Me-Down Poisons that Threaten Wildlife and People illustrates
what makes this class of contaminants unique and why 12 of the
nastiest POPs have been targeted for global action. The 12 "priority
POPs" include pesticides, industrial chemicals, and unintended
by-products of chemical production.  The WWF report explains the
events leading up to the ongoing global negotiations on POPs and outlines
WWF's position that elimination of these dangerous contaminants must be
the goal of the convention.

"Persistent Organic Pollutants: Hand-Me-Down Poisons that Threaten
Wildife and People" is available on WWF's website at
www.worldwildlife.org/toxics or for a hard copy contact Tina Skaar via
email: tina.skaar@wwfus.org or call 1.202.778.9606.