Endosulfan recommended for listing in Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention

March 19 2010

This week was the sixth meeting of the Rotterdam Convention review committee. Today, the committee made the decision to recommend endosulfan to be included in the Rotterdam Convention’s Prior Informed Consent procedure.

This decision was made based on the substantial number of bans and restrictions that national governments have put in place to rid their countries of this deadly pesticide.

What does this mean?

This is great news.

Including endosulfan in the Rotterdam Convention’s Prior Informed Consent procedure will promote information exchange about its harmful effects, and allow national governments to make an informed decision about whether they want to import it in the future. It will make the international trade in endosulfan more transparent and less vulnerable to abuse through its export notification provisions and by encouraging harmonized labeling of chemical products. It will also mean that exporting member governments are responsible for ensuring that no endosulfan exports leave their territory when an importing country has made the decision not to accept it. Such a step will empower developing countries to protect their people and their environment from the dangers of endosulfan. It will also encourage the chemicals industry to identify and promote safer alternatives. What happens next? The review committee’s recommendation to list endosulfan in Annex III to the Convention will now be considered at the next Conference of the Parties, which will be in June 2011. What can I do? It’s not over yet…
 
Help us keep the pressure on the UN and national governments to ensure endosulfan is listed under the Rotterdam and Stockholm Conventions.

Write to the Indian Minister of Environment and ask India to put people and planet before profit and stop blocking a global ban on endosulfan.