Endosulfan In Stockholm Convention - A Background

Proposal to amend the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POP) was sent on 26th July' 2007 to the Executive Secretary of the Stockholm Convention. In this the European Commission on behalf of the European Community proposed to amend the convention with inclusion of endosulfan as one of the POPs under annexes A, B and C . It was requested that the proposal be forwarded to the Third meeting of POP Review Committee (POPRC) taking place on November'07.
(Proposal to amend the 2001 Stockholm Convention)

At the Third meeting of the Committee held from 19 to 23 November 2007, José Tarazona (Spain) presented a proposal to list endosulfan on behalf of the European Community and its member states (EC) to list in Annexes A, B or C of the Convention. He explained that endosulfan is a synthetic organochlorine compound widely used as an agricultural insecticide. It was noted during the meeting that while the proposal was to be considered by POPRC-3, at that time the European Risk Assessment, from which much of the data in the proposal were drawn, was not yet publicly available, and therefore the proposal’s introduction and consideration was postponed until POPRC-4.

(Endosulfan Proposal submitted in the third POPRC meeting)
A detailed dossier prepared in support of the proposal. The dossier contained additional information on endosulfan which was submitted along with the Endosulfan proposal.

On 27th August 2008 an Endosulfan Proposal was again submitted by the European Community and its member States that are Parties to the Stockholm Convention for listing endosulfan in Annexes A, B or C of the Convention pursuant to paragraph 1 of Article 8 of the Convention..

A Party may submit a proposal to the Secretariat for listing a chemical in Annexes A, B and/or C. The proposal shall contain the information specified in Annex D. In developing a proposal, a Party may be assisted by other Parties and/or by the Secretariat.”

The proposal was discussed in the fourth meeting of POPRC held on October 15-18 ' 2008.

FOURTH MEETING OF STOCKHOLM CONVENTION ON PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS
The fourth meeting of the POPRC was held at the Varembé Conference Centre in Geneva from 13 to 17 October 2008. Mr. Reiner Arndt (Germany), was the Chair of the Committee. Over 140 participants attended the meeting, including 28 of 31 Committee members, 57 government and party observers, and 43 representatives from non-governmental organizations.

ENDOSULFAN PROPOSAL
The endosulfan proposal submitted for review in the fourth meeting of POPRC contained information specific to the information specified in paragraphs 1 and 2 in Annex D (Chemical identity , Persistence, Bio-accumulation , Potential for long-range environmental transport , Adverse effects and a Statement of Concern ).

(Endosulfan Proposal in Fourth meeting of POPRC)
Along with the Endosulfan Proposal a detailed dossier containing additional information on endosulfan was provided for consideration by the committee.

DECISION TAKEN ON ENDOSULFAN DURING THE FOURTH MEETING.
(Endosulfan decision in the fourth POPRC meeting)

1.    It was decided that Endosulfan satisfied the screening criteria as specified in Annex D

2.    An intersessional Ad Hoc Working Group was established to prepare a draft risk profile on endosulfan for consideration at POPRC-5. The Committee agreed that Ricardo Barra (Chile) would chair the intersessional ad hoc working group preparing the draft risk profile on endosulfan and approved the proposed work plan. China and India chose not to vote as they were not satisfied with the procedure of a vote on the issue

3.    Parties and observers were invited to submit to the Secretariat the information specified in Annex E before 9 January 2009.

Follow up:

The parties and observers submitted information specified in Annex E for preparing the risk profile of endolsulfan. An endosulfan draft risk profile was prepared by the Ad Hoc Working Group and comments were requested from the Pop's Review Committee on the draft risk profile on endosulfan proposed for listing under the Stockholm Convention.

FIFTH MEETING OF STOCKHOLM CONVENTION ON PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS
The fifth meeting of the POPRC (POPRC-5) of the Stockholm Convention on POPs took place from 12-16 October 2009 in Geneva, Switzerland. Over 117 participants attended the meeting, including 29 of 31 Committee members, 52 government and party observers, one intergovernmental organization, 30 non-governmental organizations, and five invited experts.

The Committee considered the draft risk of Endosulfan. In doing so, it had before it, notes by the Secretariat on the draft risk profiles of endosulfan profile and on comments and responses relating to the draft risk profile, along with a background document providing further explanation of the information reflected in the draft risk profile.

DECISIONS TAKEN ON ENDOSULFAN DURING THE FIFTH MEETING.
(Decision on endosulfan during the fifth meeting)

The Committee adopted decision POPRC-5/5 , by which it adopted the risk profile for endosulfan. The Committee also agreed to continue to collect additional information to update the risk profile. The Committee agreed that the POP characteristics of the chemical warrant global action. The Committee decided to develop for endosulfan a risk management evaluation document that includes an analysis of possible control measures for consideration at its next meeting and final recommendation to the COP for its listing in the Annexes of the Convention.

The committee invited the ad hoc working group on endosulfan that prepared the risk profile to explore any further information on adverse human health effects and, if appropriate, to revise the risk profile for consideration by the Committee at its sixth meeting
During the voting, by 22 votes in favor, 1 against and 3 abstentions, the Committee decided to accept the process envisaged in paragraph 7 (a) of article 7, thereby moving endosulfan to the Annex F phase of the Convention. The member from India wished it placed on record that he was against voting, preferring consensus, and said that, in his view, all efforts to reach consensus had not been exhausted.

Follow Up:
Invitations were sent out to the POPs Review Committee to submit information specified in Annex F of the Stockholm Convention and additional information related to adverse human health effects of endosulfan to submit information

SIXTH MEETING OF STOCKHOLM CONVENTION ON PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS
The sixth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC-6) of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) took place from 11-15 October 2010 in Geneva, Switzerland. Over 120 participants attended the meeting, including 29 of the 31 Committee members, 56 government and party observers, and over 20 representatives from non-governmental organizations.

During consideration, the Committee had before it a note by the Secretariat on the draft risk management evaluation (RME) on endosulfan , a supporting document for that draft evaluation, comments and responses relating to the draft, an updated draft risk management evaluation , an updated supporting document and a compilation of information submitted pursuant to Annex F that was relevant to endosulfan.

The Committee agreed that, as documents updated draft risk management evaluation and updated supporting document were versions of the draft risk management evaluation and the compilation of comments and responses revised to reflect information submitted by Brazil and the United States of America, it would use those documents as the starting point for its consideration of the chemical.

By paragraph 2 of the fifth meeting decision, the committee had decided to invite the ad hoc working group on endosulfan that had prepared the risk profile to explore any further information on adverse human health effects and, if appropriate, to revise the risk profile for consideration by the Committee at its sixth meeting. Information had since been submitted by the United States, Pesticide Action Network International/International POPs Elimination Network and CropLife.

It was agreed to establish a contact group to work on the basis of the October 2010 version of the draft RME. The contact and drafting groups were also tasked with considering additional information submitted intersessionally on the adverse effects of endosulfan on human health relating to the risk profile on endosulfan adopted at POPRC-5.

DECISIONS TAKEN ON ENDOSULFAN DURING THE SIXTH MEETING
(Decision on endosulfan during the sixth meeting)

POPRC agreed, by a vote, to adopt the Risk Management Evaluation (RME) for endosulfan and recommend listing endosulfan in Annex A (eliminated POPs), with exemptions. The POPRC adopts the RME for endosulfan and decides to recommend to the COP that it consider listing endosulfan in Annex A of the Convention, with specific exemptions.

Having decided in decision POPRC-5/5, in accordance with paragraph 7 (a) of Article 8 of the Convention and taking into account that a lack of full scientific certainty should not prevent a proposal from proceeding, that endosulfan is likely, as a result of its long-range environmental transport, to lead to significant  and environmental effects such that global action is warranted. Endosulfan is used on many crops such as soy, cotton, rice, and tea. It is highly toxic to humans and many other animals and has been found in the environment, including the Arctic.

CONCLUSION
Proposal to amend Annex A to the Stockholm Convention to be discussed at the fifth meeting of the Conference of the Parties
The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention, at its sixth meeting, held in Geneva from 11 to 15 October 2010, decided, in accordance with paragraph 9 of Article 8 of the Convention, to recommend to the Conference of the Parties, for its consideration, the listing of technical endosulfan (CAS No: 115-29-7), its related isomers (CAS No: 959-98-8 and CAS No: 33213-65-9) and endosulfan sulfate (CAS No: 1031-07-8) in Annex A to the Convention, with specific exemptions.
The proposal will be considered in the Fifth Meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention which will be held from 25 to 29 April 2011 at the Geneva International Conference Centre (CICG) in Geneva, Switzerland.