Persistent Organic Pollutant Testing

              


  The amount of $50 or approximately 2150 Pesos is used to analyze a simple to see if Persistent Organic Pollutants are present. A  tester will consume and spend a minimum of $280 or 12040 Pesos in testing different samples.  If there are 1000 testers scattered across the country the government will spend more or less $280000 or 1,2040,000 Pesos in just reviewing the samples. Food, shelter and transportation allowance are not yet included there. That’s why the government has a hard time monitoring Persistent Organic Pollutants in the country because these problems arise. Considering that a small part of the budget is allocated for DENR. And also the fact that a lot of devoted NGO’s have no funds to sustain these test methods.








Kevin S. Cupat


Source: http://www.aecen.org/good-practices/monitoring-persistent-organic-pollutants-philippines

Persistent Organic Pollutants Could Lead to Birth Defects in Half of All Newborns

Scientists have found that the ubiquitous presence of chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) could soon lead to half of all newborn babies being born with at least one birth defect. A new study links these chemicals to neural tube defects, the first of its kind to examine the effects of such environmental factors on fetal development. Even though POPS have semi-volatile and insoluble characteristics that prevent them to travel directly through the environment, they have been found to travel extremely far distances from their original point of release. POPs attach to particulate matter, and more often than not, through the food supply. This ultimately leads to POPs traveling all over the world and contaminating the global food supply. In fact, POPs can travel to locations where they have never been used, including remote areas as far as Antarctica.

In the study, researchers observed 80 cases of fetuses or newborns with neural tube defects as well as 50 healthy controls from rural countries within the Shanxi Province in the People’s Republic of China. The research team chose this province due to the fact that it has the highest Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAH) emissions in the country, a particularly dangerous atmospheric pollutant produced mainly from mining and burning coal in the area. The province also has the highest rates of neural tube defects in China, most likely a result of these pollutants. The rate of defect is a staggering 14 per 1,000 births.

What the scientists found in the placenta tissue of pregnant women added further evidence to their theory. At birth, the scientists found several types of persistent organic pollutants in the placenta tissue, in addition to 10 types of PAHs, multiple types of organochloride pesticides, and 2 types of the pesticide DDT and a number of DTT metabolites. This is very distressing because even today, many environmental pollutants despite being banned many years ago, are still affecting newborn children in developing and developed nations. As the usage of pesticides and genetically-enhanced weed killer accelerates, even more pollutants are unleashed on pregnant women and subsequently their developing fetuses. According to the authors of the study, these pollutants will lead to 50% of all future newborns being born with a defect unless something is done to control the pervasive nature of these harmful pollutants. This should be a wake-up call for governments to act on this problem.

Source: http://naturalsociety.com/persistent-organic-pollutants-birth-defects-half-newborns/

Posted by: Segpierre Adrian A. Miradora

Philippines: Implementing Rules Relating to POPs

Since the air pollution in Philippines is one of the country's big problem, a set of rules and regulations are implemented in order to help ease the problems caused by POPs.
PART X: FUELS, ADDITIVES, SUBSTANCES AND POLLUTANTS, RULE XLI: PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS is the part concentrating in POPs case in the Philippines.


IMPLEMENTING RULES AND REGULATIONSOF REPUBLIC ACT NO. 8749  PHILIPPINE CLEAN AIR ACT OF 1999 

Pursuant to the provisions of Section 51 of Republic Act No. 8749, otherwise known as the "Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999," and by virtue of Executive Order No. 192, Series of 1987, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources hereby adopts and promulgates the following rules and regulations:

(Click here to see Rules and Regulations)

Other than the Philippine Clean Air Act of 1999, there are many other implemented laws and regulations for harmful environmental contaminants. Some these laws and regulations are as follows:

1. Republic Act  6969 - “Toxic Substances and Hazardous and Nuclear Wastes Control Act of 1990”
2. DENR Administrative Order No. 29 - “The Implementing Rules and Regulations of R.A. 6969”
3. DENR Administrative Order No. 2000-02 -  “The Chemical Control Order for Asbestos”. This is to control and regulate the use, import, storage, transport and disposal of asbestos.

 There are other laws and regulations implemented in our country. These set of regulations are implemented in our country in order to  help lessen the environmental problem that our country is facing now. People lack awareness with these regulations. If the government will promote these regulations people will have more knowledge and might be more concerned with our environment.


Posted by: Kim Angelica G. Follosco

A video about POPs

Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

The Stockholm Convention is a treaty with major countries around the world as signatories that addresses the environmental problems regarding POPs. With over 150 countries signing the Convention, the treaty entered into force on the 17^th of May, 2004, 90 days after the ratification by the 50^th country. The Global Environmental Facility (GEF) is the designated interim financial mechanism of the Convention. The COP, or the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention, governs the POPs Convention, with its members being the Convention's Parties.

POPs or Persistent Organic Pollutants are toxic substances and chemicals that stay in the environment for a long time without disappearing or disintegrating, in the process becoming widely distributed geographically. Over time, it accumulates in the fatty tissues of living organisms.

The Convention focuses on the elimination or reduction of 12 POPs which the convention dubbed the “Dirty Dozen”. A system was also formulated for tackling additional chemicals identified as hazardous. The Convention recognizes that a great amount of effort is needed to phase out certain chemicals and seeks to ensure that this effort is made. It also channels resources for cleaning up the existing stockpiles of POPs in the world today. Ultimately, the Convention envisions a world free from dangerous POPs and seeks to erase the global economy’s reliance on toxic chemicals.  

For more information on the “Dirty Dozen” or the 12 initial POPs listed under the Stockholm Convention, you can click on this link:

http://chm.pops.int/Convention/ThePOPs/The12initialPOPs/tabid/296/Default.aspx 

The Stockholm Convention is perhaps best understood as having five essential aims:

• Eliminate dangerous POPs, starting with the 12 worst
• Support the transition to safer alternatives
• Target additional POPs for action
• Cleanup old stockpiles and equipment containing POPs
• Work together for a POPs-free future  

For the complete text of the Stockholm Convention, here’s a link to the document:

http://www.pops.int/documents/convtext/convtext_en.pdf

Sources: http://www.unido.org/index.php?id=5279

Posted by: Segpierre Adrian A. Miradora

Disaster at its Finest

Persistent Organic Pollutants, a deadly class of toxins, is one of the reasons why Southeast Asia which includes the Philippines is one of the most deadly regions that will emerge in the near future. Deadly in the sense that it is not an economic giant but deadly in a literal way, because of the vast pollution inside and outside the archipelago.

According to Greenpeace Organization, a group that is dedicated to voice out and save our world, in their previous investigation that was held last August 1998, the Philippines is included in the list of countries who uses old and unsafe methods of handling and disposing PCB or polychlorinated biphenyls that are used in old transformers and capacitors. With this situation in our country, how can the government lessen pollution if they can’t even lay a finger on the issue related to our environment?

Slow response and years passed by, more power plants were installed. More POP’s generating plants were established. Even though Greenpeace urged the regions and advised the countries to heed on their recommendations, it was ignored that’s why we are bound to this situation. It may look better because the Philippines is becoming more industrialized. Unaware that POP's can cause severe damage to the health of a person. A long term health problem, as well as to the different aspects of life. Also a more damaging effect in our world including wildlife and ecosystem will be expected if these things are carried on. Systematic Chaos is now happening.

- Kevin S. Cupat

- Source: http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/ph/press/releases/persistent-organic-pollutants/

POPs in the Philippines

 

YES!!!!! Filipino's primary way of earning money is by farming. Farming is not an illegal work it is actually good for the body and it gives people food to eat....

BUT.... everything that we do has consequences. After farmers are farming, insects tend to eat the crops and the only way to stop the insects is to use pesticides, but when farmers use pesticides, the one who will get affected will be the environment and especially us, the people.

The image above shows what the Philippine government passed as a law to protect their people from POs.


Recommendations (Public interest NGO perspective) : 


1. Set up a multistakeholder national coordinating body with the full participation of public interest NGOs and other stakeholders.

2.  The national coordinator (POPs focal person) should be a hired full-time person with sufficient experience in chemical safety issues, preferably from the academe.

3. Training on the Stockholm Convention

4. Multi-stakeholder joint campaigns to put chemical safety, particularly, the issue of Persistent Toxic Substances high in the agenda of government decision makers.

5. Intensified public awareness campaigns and training on alternatives, especially at the grassroots level to enable farmers, fisherfolk and other vulnerable sectors to avoid, reject and develop alternatives to persistent toxic substances.

6. POPs advocacy work for special groups such as the academe, professional associations, consumer groups, church groups, artists and media groups, etc., to convince them to take on the issue of persistent toxic substances and incorporate the issue in their programs, meetings and discussions.

7. Undertake more comprehensive surveys, monitoring and research activities to update the national profile on POPs and other persistent toxic substances, including completion of the inventory of POPs pesticides.

8. Establishment of a national mechanism to speed up process of officially adding new POPs to the original list of twelve, prioritizing toxic chemicals of priority concern for the country.

9. Work for legislative measures to strengthen existing laws and policies that protect
health and the environment.

10. Participatory periodic assessments of progress in the implementation of the
Stockholm Convention and other related international environmental agreements.

Source
- Dan Christian Go

DIRTY DOZEN!!!!

ALDRIN AND DIELDRIN

ENDRIN

CHLORDANE

HEPTACHLOR

DDT

MIREX

TOXAPHENE

HEXACHLOROBENZENE

POLYCHLORINATED BIPHENYLS

DIOXIN AND HCB

This blog is all about the dirty dozen... Know them and DO NOT use them.

-Dan Christian Go

Overview

The wide dissemination of POPs in the environment is generating increasing international concern. POPs, long-lived organic compounds that become more concentrated as they move up the food chain, can travel thousands of kilometers from their point of release.

Although POPs include a wide range of chemicals, much of the research revolves around 12 chemicals (or chemical classes) that include the industrial PCBs, polychlorinated dioxins and furans (unwanted by-products of various industrial processes), and pesticides such as DDT, chlordane, and heptachlor. Although these are restricted or banned in most developed countries, many POPs are still manufactured in the United States and other developed nations for export and remain widely used in developing countries. A recent survey of 60 countries found that the majority were still producing, importing, or exporting the nine POPs studied.

Source: http://www.wri.org/publication/content/8401

The Philippines, being both an agricultural and industrial country, uses significant amount of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Other than the mentioned chemicals some of persistent organic pollutants come from dump sites and land fills. 

Countries now are trying their best to help lessen the wide spread of the harmful chemicals but some chemicals can't be completely banned in a country. One of the chemicals mentioned above is the Polychlorinated Biphenylsor also known as PCBs. As stated in the figure above, PCBs are the least banned chemicals in countries. PCBs are contained in some transformers that are used in electric utilities.

With regards to the use of pesticides in the Philippines, the Department of Agriculture is banning certain chemicals to be used as pesticides. 

POPs also causes ozone destruction. If people will be more aware with POPs and other environmental problems, it will be easy to implement certain policies regarding the matter. Limited financial resources and manpower is also a problem why countries like Philippines are having troubles solving environmental issues.

Be aware. Help save the planet! :)

Posted by: Kim Angelica G. Follosco