IPEN

In preparation for the 13th meeting of the Stockholm Convention's POPs Review Committee (POPRC), which will take place 17 - 20 October in Rome, IPEN has developed a Quick Guide to IPEN Views on POPRC 13. This document highlights IPEN's views on issues that the Committee will tackle at the meeting, including formal recommendations for listing two chemicals in the treaty: PFOA (the “Teflon chemical”) and dicofol (a pesticide linked to production of DDT).

Erik Solheim, the UN Environment Executive Director, stopped by IPEN's "Mercury Salon" at the COP1 to get a hair sample taken to be tested for mercury. IPEN had invited all COP1 attendees to come by the IPEN booth to get their hair tested, and to date, 160 meeting participants have given a sample. The samples taken during the meeting will be sent to Biodiversity Research Institute's laboratories for mercury analysis. Results will be complied and reported on at UNEA3.

This follows testing that IPEN previously carried out at the Mercury Treaty INC1 and, more recently, as research for IPEN's Mercury in Women of Childbearing Age in 25 Countries study.

Following the hair sampling, Mr. Solheim met with Minamata Activist and fetal Minamata disease patient Ms. Shinobu Sakamoto. They had a brief discussion and Ms. Sakamoto reiterated her message of "No More Minmatas."

At IPEN's booth at the Minamata Convention's 1st Conference of the Parties, IPEN is taking hair samples from all those interested in testing for mercury levels. The samples will be sent to Biodiversity Research Institute's laboratories for mercury analysis and results will be reported on in the coming months. Some delegates who previously gave hair samples at the Convention's 1st Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee meeting in Sweden in 2010 are interested in getting their hair tested again to see if their levels have changed.

On the first day of the conference, IPEN also tested some skin creams for mercury levels, including creams purchased in Bangladesh, Benin and India. Read more about IPEN's activities at the COP1 here.

EcoWaste Coalition and Laban Konsyumer, Inc. Joint Press Release

Government Urged to Go After Importers, Distributors and Retailers of Toxic Cosmetics

Quezon City: Chemical safety and consumer protection groups today revealed the unabashed trade of mercury-containing skin whitening products despite being illegal to import, distribute and sell.

The EcoWaste Coalition and Laban Konsyumer, Inc. made the exposé ahead of the first Conference of Parties (COP1) to the Minamata Convention on Mercury on September 24 to 29 in Geneva, Switzerland.

The Minamata Convention, an international treaty, aims “to protect the human health and the environment from anthropogenic releases of mercury and mercury compounds.”  Among other things, it targets the phase-out of skin lightening products with mercury above one part per million (ppm).