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U.N. Experts Plan Attack on Toxic PCBs
| Right after they solve global warming and whirled peas. |
Dozens of experts armed with a new global treaty began Thursday to plan a decades-long assault on PCBs, one of the most widespread and difficult to eradicate chemical pollutants. Billions of dollars will be spent globally "to make the world PCB-free by the year 2028" under the treaty that went into force last month, said James B. Willis, director of the chemicals unit at the U.N. Environment Program. Production of the chemicals is banned, but they are still in use in a wide array of electrical equipment, it said. Replacing the equipment and removing the pollution from the environment will take years. The most common way of disposing of them is through high-temperature incinerators, which are expensive to run, officials said. Other methods also are being developed.
PCBs are among "the most widespread of all environmental pollutants, found worldwide in air, water, soil, food and the fatty tissues of humans and animals," the agency said. They maybe, perhaps, might, could can cause health problems, including weakened immunity, and maybe, quite possibly cancer, it added. PCBs are one of several toxic chemicals covered by the treaty known as the Stockholm Convention that went into force May 17. The list of pollutants also includes DDT, dioxin and pesticides. Some 65 countries have already ratified the accord, and about 100 more have signed it. The United States is among the signers, but the Senate has yet to ratify the treaty even though President Bush has given it his strong backing.
| Lookeedat: GWB learned something from Bill Clinton. |
Posted by: Steve White 2004-06-11 |
