Saxby Chambliss: “today, Senator Harkin and I are introducing the POPs, LRTAP POPs and PIC Implementation Act of 2005. This bill would…”

“today, Senator Harkin and I are introducing the POPs, LRTAP POPs and PIC Implementation Act of 2005. This bill would amend the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA) to implement the United States' pesticide- related obligations under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs Convention), the Aarhus Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants to the Geneva Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP POPs Protocol) and the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (PIC Convention). POPs are certain chemicals that are toxic, persist in the environment for an extended period of time and can bioaccumulate in the human food chain. POPs have been linked to adverse health effects on humans and animals. Due to their persistent characteristics and ability to circulate globally, POPs that are released in one part of the world can travel to neighboring regions and negatively affect environments where they are not produced or used. The United States has taken a leading role in reducing and eliminating the use POPs. For example, in the late 1970s, the United States prohibited the manufacture of new PCBs and severely restricted the use of remaining stocks. And over the past 35 years, the United States has had a strong regulatory process that restricted the production and use of dangerous pesticides.…”