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PA U.S. SIGNS INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS TO REDUCE AIR EMISSIONS
Release Date: 06/26/98
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FOR RELEASE: FRIDAY, JUNE 26, 1998
U.S. SIGNS INTERNATIONAL AGREEMENTS TO
REDUCE AIR EMISSIONS
REDUCE AIR EMISSIONS
The United States has signed two international agreements to reduce air emissions of persistent organic compounds (POPs) and heavy metals. The agreements represent major progress in controlling a range of highly toxic compounds and include bans on the production and restrictions on the use of certain pesticides and PCBs, and requirements to apply best available technologies to control air emissions of the metals cadmium, lead and mercury. These agreements are especially important because these pollutants can be transported long distances in the atmosphere, they build up in the food chain, and they are toxic to humans, land, and marine life. While already addressed under U.S. environmental laws, the new protocols will greatly assist in reducing the global migration of these compounds from a range of sources. The agreements, negotiated under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe's Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution, were signed at the Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference in Aarhus, Denmark. The countries which participated in developing the agreements include the New Independent States of the former Soviet Union and Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Western Europe, Canada and the United States. These agreements are a major step forward in dealing with the long range transport of hazardous air pollutants, and will serve as models for future work to reduce these and other pollutants in other parts of the world. Negotiations on a global agreement on POPs will begin June 29th in Montreal.
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