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Home » What are Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)?

What are Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)?

Published On: 11 April 2022By Categories: SDB-ProfiTags: ,

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The term Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) has a very crucial role for a specific jurisdiction: the substances concerned are very critical for health and the environment on a global scale for various reasons. This is exactly why these pollutants are in focus not only at the European level, but also worldwide.

Jurisdictions upon jurisdictions

The European Union is known to have regulations and directives. Regulations, such as the REACH Regulation [1], are directly applicable in all member states. Directives, such as the Seveso (III) Directive [2], must be transposed by each member state into its own law. There is therefore more freedom for individual nations in the exact implementation.

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The Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) Act adds another level: the POPs Regulation is the European Union’s implementation of the Stockholm Convention and the Aarhus Protocol, which are regulated at the global level. [3]

So, what are POPs actually?

Persistent Organic Pollutants combine several unfavourable properties that together have a devastating effect:

Persistence means that the pollutants remain in the environment for a long time. That means, that they are almost impossible to degrade under normal conditions in the environment
Organic pollutant means substances that have a harmful effect on health and / or the environment.

When these factors combine, they result in hazardous substances that not only cause harm locally due to their persistence and harmfulness, but also accumulate in organisms and move away from the site of release.

An example of this, which has also become quite widely known through many reports, is the pesticide DDT.

What are the consequences of the POPs Regulation?

Substances listed in the POP regulation are banned or can only be used to a very limited extent. The release of these pollutants should be avoided as much as possible. [3] Nevertheless, it is not possible to completely avoid these substances – for example, the substance itself is needed as a comparison for analysis in laboratories. Without it, Tests could not be performed to make sure, that these pollutants are not present in the tested samples. [4]

How are new POPs identified?

Each of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention can propose newly identified POPs so that they are added to the Annex of the POP Regulation and thus banned.

EU member states can submit their proposals to the European Commission with the support of ECHA, which is evaluated by a POP Review Committee “POPRC”. [3]

Sources:

[1]        Regulation (EC) No 1907/2006 (REACH Regulation), consolidated version of 01.03.2022

[2]        Seveso (III) Directive (Directive 2012/18/EU)

[3]        ECHA website on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

[4]        POPs Regulation (Regulation (EU) 2019/1021)

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