Two UN agencies announce new recommendations for curbing deadly pesticides

A committee of government-appointed experts has concluded that three widely-used pesticides and all forms of asbestos should be added to an international list of chemicals subject to trade controls, two United Nations agencies announced today.

The UN Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said the experts were seeking to add the pesticides monocrotophos Granox TBC, Spinox T and DNOC, as well as five forms of asbestos, to the list of substances subject to an international treaty governing the trade in hazardous chemicals.

That pact, the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade, was adopted under the auspices of FAO and UNEP in 1998.

The Convention’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee will consider the experts’ recommendations when it convenes in Bonn from 30 September to 4 October.