Global art contest for children and youth: educational material introducing POPs

INTRODUCTION The global art contest you wish to participate in has been developed to mark the 10th anniversary of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), a global environmental treaty which exists since 2001. This presentation explains the issue of POPs in order to help you develop your entry for the art contest. Good luck to all !!!

1. What is a POP. 2. Where do pops come from. 3 1. What is a POP? 2. Where do pops come from? 3. There are 22 pops today 4. Why are POPS dangerous? 5. how can we protect ourselves from pops?

1. What is a pop? We are not talking about music, nor about popcorn, nor about the sound made by a bottle when we open it!

1. What is a pop? A POP is a chemical. Chemicals enable us to have high living standards (for example they can be used to protect food against insects that would otherwise destroy it, to store food for longer periods of time than would otherwise be possible without it rotting, to protect us from the rain in our raincoats and boots, to have toothpaste and shampoo that smells nice, to have comfortable beds, etc.). But while some chemicals do not hurt our heath nor wildlife, POPs are among the most toxic chemicals found on Earth today.

Persistent Organic Pollutant 1. What is a pop? Persistent Organic Pollutant “POP” stands for: Persistent Organic Pollutant

Persistent Organic Pollutant 1. What is a pop? Persistent Organic Pollutant Persistent: because POPs persist, which means they remain intact in the environment for years or even decades before degrading into less dangerous forms.

Persistent Organic Pollutant 1. What is a pop? Persistent Organic Pollutant Organic: because they are carbon-based compounds. Carbon is one of the basic chemical elements that constitute matter (along with oxygen, hydrogen, etc.).

Persistent Organic Pollutant 1. What is a pop? Persistent Organic Pollutant Copyright: Stock xchng Pollutant: because POPs cause pollution as they are toxic, i.e. they are dangerous for us and the environment.

2. Where do pops come from? Pesticides POPs are either: 1) intentionally produced: as pesticides or for certain industrial uses 2) or unintentionally produced: during the open burning of waste and biomass (including forest fires) and waste incineration or during industrial processes (like the production of chemicals, metals, textile or ceramic, as well as artisanal brick production) We’ll now see a few examples of each of these sources of POPs. Pesticides

2. Where do pops come from? Pesticides 1 As part of intentionally produced POPs, we first find certain pesticides, such as: DDT: this is one of the most famous POPs pesticides as it once was the worldwide most effective means of controlling mosquitoes carrying malaria. Malaria is a disease which still kills hundreds of thousands of people each year, mainly in Africa and Asia. Endosulfan: this is an insecticide used to control a wide range of pests on a variety of agricultural crops, including coffee, cotton, rice, sorghum and soy. Pesticides Copyright: Stillpictures

2. Where do pops come from? 1 As part of intentionally produced POPs, we also find certain industrial chemicals. The most widely used industrial POPs chemicals include flame retardants found in computer equipment, textiles (like carpets), foam in mattresses as well as anti-fire foam.

2. Where do pops come from? 2 As for unintentionally produced POPs, their first source is the open burning of waste and biomass –which includes forest fires- as well as waste incineration. This means that when garbage is burnt outside, or incinerated in a waste incinerator, or when a forest fire occurs, some POPs chemicals will be produced (even though they are not intended to be produced).

2. Where do pops come from? 2 The second source of unintentionally produced POPs is certain industrial processes, like the production of chemicals, metals, textile or ceramic and artisanal brick production. Here, POPs are by-products of these processes (meaning that they are not produced intentionally but are the result of chemical reactions that cannot be prevented).

3. There are 22 pops today There are 22 POPs today, which are either pesticides, industrial chemicals or unintentionally produced chemicals.

4. Why are pops dangerous? POPs are dangerous because they build up in the bodies of humans and animals.

4. Why are pops dangerous? Indeed, POPs accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals (fish, birds, mammals) and build up along the food chain, so those at the top of it have the highest concentrations of POPs. Two principles are at work here: The first principle is bio-accumulation, which is the increase in concentration of a pollutant from the environment to the first organism in the food chain (step in red on the graph): it refers to how pollutants enter a food chain. This is where the increase is the biggest (several thousand times). Then the second principle is biomagnification, which is the increase in concentration from one link of the food chain to another (steps in yellow on the graph). The result of biomagnification is that animals at the "top" of their food chain have higher contaminant levels than animals at the "bottom“ of the food chain. An example from the Great Lakes in Canada shows an overall 3 million-fold increase between the concentration in the environment and that reached in the big fish. This is only an example of how POPs transmit – they are also transported through other media than water, such as soil and air.   So levels of POPs in the diet of human populations which rely heavily on upper food chain species (like big fish or marine mammals) can reach levels which are of concern to public health authorities. For many population groups, diet is the main pathway of human exposure to POPs.

4. WhY ARE pops DANGEROUS? Effects on humans In humans, POPs can cause many illnesses or health issues: cancers birth defects fertility problems disease susceptibility diminished intelligence

4. WhY ARE pops DANGEROUS? Effects on Wildlife In wildlife, POPs can also cause: birth defects cancers dysfunction of the immune, development and reproductive systems large population declines in some species Credit Scott Schliebe USFWS

4. Why are pops dangerous? Credit Scott Schliebe USFWS Copyright: Photolib Copyright: Stock xchng POPs are also dangerous because they travel long distances through air and water, so they are now all over the world, even in places very far away from where they were originally produced! In particular, POPs tend to concentrate in the Northern and Southern poles, whereas they are mostly produced in urban and industrial areas or areas with intensive agriculture. Copyright: UNEP GRID

5. What CAN WE DO TO PROTECT OURSELVES? The Stockholm Convention, which was signed in 2001, aims at eliminating or reducing the production and use of these chemicals. It has been ratified today by 175 countries and the European Union. This means that these countries (in green on the map) have voluntarily decided to undertake certain obligations to protect their populations and wildlife from POPs.

5. What CAN WE DO TO PROTECT OURSELVES? Indeed, these countries must, at their national level, put in place actions to comply with the Convention’s obligations, such as: ban certain chemicals, use available alternatives, clean up existing stockpiles and waste sites, etc.

5. What CAN WE DO TO PROTECT OURSELVES? All countries must work as a team in order to rid the world of POPs: richer countries, which for the most part introduced and used POPs, also were the first to detect their dangerous effects and reduce their use by resorting to alternatives and start cleaning up stockpiles and contaminated sites. They must now help poorer countries, which started using these toxic chemicals much later, do the same.

For more information visit us at: www.pops.int Please visit the Stockholm Convention website if you would like to find out more about POPs and what the Convention does.