02/02/06-- (Dubai, United Arab Emirates) The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) welcomed adoption on 6 February of the Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management (SAICM), despite the agreement’s weakening under strong US pressure. The final compromise narrowed SAICM’s scope, came up short on long-term financing, and fudged the connection between precaution and human health. Yet IPEN still views SAICM as a critical global framework to eliminate the harms caused by chemicals.

The SAICM negotiations teetered on the brink of disaster as the Bush Administration demanded sweeping concessions, rebuffed nearly all efforts to find common ground, and stood alone against over 140 countries to resist the agreement. Administration officials sought to ensure that
environment and public health protections would always take a back seat to trade. “The
aggressive attack against SAICM tried to undermine years of successful negotiation among governments, the chemical industry and public interest advocates,” said Jack Weinberg, IPEN co-chair. “US attempts to disrupt SAICM are particularly brazen since the greatest beneficiaries of better chemicals management are developing countries struggling to protect the health of workers, communities, and consumers in an age of global commerce,” he said.

IPEN pledged its efforts toward reaching the goals of SAICM, and to collaborate with like-minded governments and stakeholders to surpass those parts of the SAICM that succumbed to US threats. IPEN released its Declaration for a Toxics-Free Future (found in SAICM conference room paper 23), committing the network to work to achieve by 2020 a world in which all chemicals are produced and used in ways that eliminate adverse effects on human health and the environment.

A successful SAICM will require adequate financing, clear plans for regional and intersessional activities and the political will to turn the three SAICM documents into actions. The next meeting in the SAICM process is in 2009. Recognizing that momentum toward achieving the 2020 goal
cannot wait until then, IPEN will begin contributing immediately to implement the SAICM in all regions of the world, and calls upon governments and all SAICM stakeholders to do the same.

The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) is a global public interest NGO network with more than 400 Participating Organizations in 70 countries in all regions. IPEN Participating Organizations in many countries and in all regions collaborated to advance the common goal of creating a strong and effective global POPs treaty. IPEN now works with NGOs at regional, national, district and community levels in support of POPs elimination efforts at a step toward a future world where toxic chemicals no longer cause harm to human health or to the environment.