Guest Article #9 for the International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), 23 December 2014
by: Olga Speranskaya, IPEN Co-Chair, and Mariann Lloyd-Smith, IPEN Senior Policy Advisor
The global toxic threat is largely underestimated by many politicians and governments, despite it being a unique issue in that often one can point directly to those responsible for the pollution, degradation of the environment and the declining of human health. In 2001, Klaus Toepfer, then the Executive Director of UNEP, warned that basic human rights to life and health are ‘threatened by exposures to toxic chemicals, hazardous wastes, and contaminated drinking water and food.'
IPEN Participating Organization Jagrata Juba Shangha (JJS) held a workshop on 19 October in Khulna, Bangladesh, to work towards and promote a toxics-free future.
The newsletter features updates from IPEN Participating Organizations on some of their work in the region, including from AVD-Kowa Murna, Carbone Guinée, Centre Optionnel pour la Promotion et la Régénération Economique et Sociale Secteur Afrique (COPRESSA), Centre de Recherche et d’Education pour le Développement (CREPD), Propreté, Environnement et Santé (PES) and Association pour la Défense de l’Environnement et des Consommateurs (ADEC).
The meeting convened nearly 100 NGO representatives from more than 30 countries, with over 30 NGO representatives from China. It was conducted with simultaneous English / Chinese translation, and covered issues related to IPEN’s global operation, as well as: chemical safety and pollution victims in China, electronic waste, POPs and the Stockholm Convention, lead paint elimination, highly hazardous pesticides, nanotechnology, mercury pollution and the Minamata Convention, endocrine disrupting chemicals, and others.
