Lets' Focus on Lindane

What is Lindane???

Lindane medications are currently approved by the Food and Drug Administration for the second-line treatment of scabies and lice. That said, it is only used when first-line therapies failed to remedy the situation. But petitions to ban manufacture, sale, and prescription of these necessary therapies have been repeatedly rejected by the experts working with the US regulatory agencies.

But.... Read the article below.

SOURCE OF the ARTICLE

From what the article suggests, their are preventive measures we can do before we go blasting ourselves with these chemical stuffs. Try first the more natural and convenient way of treating those lice problems. Especially when kids are concerned, you have got to be more precise on what you are doing with your kid. You'll never know that you, yourself would be the reason for larger problems that could arise in your little experiment. Most of the time desperation leads to chaos. Let's be more careful nowadays where technology is growing far more than we can handle. I'm not saying it's bad but sometimes too much of something is bad as they say.


Posted By: James Neslie Ang - 1/26/2012 16:27:11

Is Stockholm Convention a Predatory weapon?

Is Stockholm Convention a Predatory weapon?

The Convention may become a predatory weapon in the hands of vested interests if sharp questions are not asked now. World exports in chemicals are much larger than the export in agricultural products.

World Exports in Chemicals & Agri Products in 2007 ($bn)

Year Chemicals Agri Products 2005 1103.98 849.01 2006 1247.72 943.68 2007 1483.15 1127.67 Source: WTO

European Union (EU-27) has a major share of as much as 55% in world’s export of chemicals as shown in the table below.

Share of European Union in World’s Export of chemicals (2007) World’s chemical exports $ 1483 billion (100%) Share of European Union (EU-27) $ 813 billion( 55%) Share of rest of the world(170 countries) $ 670 billion (45%) Source: WTO(2007)

EU-27 – the nursery for POP listing proposals

The European Union plays a dominant and hegemonic role in POP listing of chemicals. Among the recent chemicals added to the Convention’s POPs list, all nominations with the exception of one came from the EU.

Newly added POPs S.No. Chemical Name Nominated by 1 Pentabromodiphenyl ether EU 2 Chlordecone EU 3 Hexabromobiphenyl EU 4 Lindane (and alpha & beta HCH) Mexico 5 PFOs EU 6 Octabromodiphenyl ether EU 7 Pentachlorobenezene EU

The European Union chemical industry benefits most from eliminating the production and use of these newly added POPs. Each generic chemical eliminated can cause a benefit on market growth of a proprietary chemical from the EU- the largest exporter of chemicals in the world.

Source

Posted By: Louis Albert Cruz- 1/26/2012 12:40:23

What is Stockholm Convention?

The Stockholm Convention is a global treaty which aims to protect human health and our environment from persistent organic pollutants (POPs). POPs are chemicals that exist on our environment for a long period, became globally distributed, accumulate in the fatty tissue of living organisms and give toxic to human and other living organisms. POPs rotates around the world and can cause damage to organisms that make contact with them. Through the implementation of the convention our government will take measures to totally eliminate or reduce the release of POPs.

The “Dirty Dozen” are POPs which the Stockholm Convention targets to be eliminated or reducing its release. The convention sets up a system for tackling additional chemicals that can be harmful. It recognizes the need for a special effort sometimes for phasing out some chemicals for certain uses and make sure that this act must be done. It also channels resources into cleaning up the existing stockpiles and dumps POPs that scatter the world’s landscape.

The Stockholm Convention is perhaps best understood as having five essential aims:

• Eliminate dangerous POPs, starting with the 12 worst
• Support the transition to safer alternatives
• Target additional POPs for action
• Cleanup old stockpiles and equipment containing POPs
• Work together for a POPs-free future

Posted By: Louis Albert Cruz- 1/26/2012 12:45:23

What are these POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants)?

What are these POPs? Good question. Initially when the Stockholm Convention listed these POPs, there were 12 but during that time a follow up of 9 new POPs are added to the list.
The Initial 12 POPs:

• Pesticides

1. Aldrin
2. Chlorane
3. DDT
4. Dieldrin
5. Endrin
6. Heptachlor
7. Hexachlorobenzene
8. Mirex
9. Toxaphene

• Industrial Chemicals

1. Polychlorinated biphenyls

• By Products

1. Polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins (PCDD)
2. Ploychlorinated dibenzofurans

The newly added 9 POPs:

1. Chlordecone
2. Alpha Hexachlorocyclohexane
3. Beta  Hexachlorocyclohexane
4. Lindane
5. Pentachlorobenzene
6. Hexabromobiphenyl
7. Hexabromobiphenyl ether and  Heptaabromobiphenyl ether
8. Perflourooctane Sulfonic Acid, its salts and  Perflourooctane Sulfonyl Acid
9. Technical Endosulfan and its related isomers

So watch out for these chemicals when purchasing or using a product, check out the labels and composition. You'll never know when one these are even included in your favorite products. Share this to your friends and families to avoid complications not only to them but to our world.

SOURCE: http://www.pops.int/
Posted By: James Neslie Ang - 1/16/2012 15:40:23

Stockholm Presentation

Measures to Reduce or Eliminate Releases from Stockpiles and Wastes

To ensure that those Persistent Organic Pollutants contained in different products doesn't affect Public Health, the following is taken from Article 6 of The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants Text present here:

SOURCE

"1. In order to ensure that stockpiles consisting of or containing chemicals listed either in Annex A or Annex B and wastes, including products and articles upon becoming wastes, consisting of, containing or contaminated with a chemical listed in Annex A, B or C, are managed in a manner protective of human health and the environment, each Party shall:

(a) Develop appropriate strategies for identifying:

(i) Stockpiles consisting of or containing chemicals listed either in Annex A or Annex B; and

(ii) Products and articles in use and wastes consisting of, containing or contaminated with a chemical listed in Annex A, B or C;

(b) Identify, to the extent practicable, stockpiles consisting of or containing chemicals listed either in Annex A or Annex B on the basis of the strategies referred to in subparagraph (a);

(c) Manage stockpiles, as appropriate, in a safe, efficient and environmentally sound manner. Stockpiles of chemicals listed either in Annex A or Annex B, after they are no longer allowed to be used according to any specific exemption specified in Annex A or any specific exemption or acceptable purpose specified in Annex B, except stockpiles which are allowed to be exported according to paragraph 2 of Article 3, shall be deemed to be waste and shall be managed in accordance with subparagraph (d);

(d) Take appropriate measures so that such wastes, including products and articles upon becoming wastes, are:

(i) Handled, collected, transported and stored in an environmentally sound manner;

(ii) Disposed of in such a way that the persistent organic pollutant content is destroyed or irreversibly transformed so that they do not exhibit the characteristics of persistent organic pollutants or otherwise disposed of in an environmentally sound manner when destruction or irreversible transformation does not represent the environmentally preferable option or the persistent organic pollutant content is low, taking into account international rules, standards, and guidelines, including those that may be developed pursuant to paragraph 2, and relevant global and regional regimes governing the management of hazardous wastes;

(iii) Not permitted to be subjected to disposal operations that may lead to recovery, recycling, reclamation, direct reuse or alternative uses of persistent organic pollutants; and

(iv) Not transported across international boundaries without taking into account relevant international rules, standards and guidelines;

(e) Endeavour to develop appropriate strategies for identifying sites contaminated by chemicals listed in Annex A, B or C; if remediation of those sites is undertaken it shall be performed in an environmentally sound manner.

2. The Conference of the Parties shall cooperate closely with the appropriate bodies of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal to, inter alia:

(a) Establish levels of destruction and irreversible transformation necessary to ensure that the characteristics of persistent organic pollutants as specified in paragraph 1 of Annex D are not exhibited;

(b) Determine what they consider to be the methods that constitute environmentally sound disposal referred to above; and

(c) Work to establish, as appropriate, the concentration levels of the chemicals listed in Annexes A, B and C in order to define the low persistent organic pollutant content referred to in paragraph 1 (d)(ii)."


In this article, the convention listed down all possible ways and measures to make sure that stockpiles, products and items that contain the Persistent Organic Pollutants are disposed of properly. In this way, the chemicals won't be harmful to Humans. It is also stated that reverse transformation of these chemicals can be done to improve its productivity.

Adverse Effects of Persistent Organic Pollutants

Adverse Effects of Persistent Organic Pollutants
SOURCE
1. Malfunctioning of Reproductive Systems for both Humans and Animals

Studies showed that exposure to pops brings about a very serious effect on human and animal reproductive systems. Examples are abnormal menstruation, reduced sperm count and physical injuries.

2. Nervous System

Deficiency in thinking rationally and low intellectual abilities. Short attention span and unusual behavior.

3. Immunological Effects

Abrupt functioning of the immune system which causes unwanted diseases and disorders. Some pops makes the immune system weak.
As we can conclude, pops, some of them, are very dangerous should really be banned from usage to avoid more serious damage.

As we can conclude, POPS greatly affects us in many ways. We can be safe in one pollutant but in danger with another. To avoid this, regular check-ups is recommended especially to people or families living near industrial infrastructures.