In 2001 President Bush said that he intended to sign the Stockholm Convention on Peristent Organic Pollutants, which seeks to eliminate the use of toxic chemicals world-wide. The convention has been signed by 127 countries thus far. The US has not, largely through failures of our beloved Congress. Since we are not yet a signatory to the convention, we are free to export poison and have managed to export almost 30,000,000 pounds between 2001 and 2003. The hang-up appears to be centered around the process of adding new chemicals to the initial list of twelve. Apparently we don't want our EPA involved in the process of deciding whether to add toxic chemicals.
We have also failed to sign the Rotterdam Convention which attempts to control trade in toxic chemicals by requiring exporters to inform countries when the exporter's shipment includes certain chemicals. This convention has been signed by 110 countries.
It seems to me that both conventions make a lot of sense and living up to them should make the world a little better. Why can't our leaders act on this instead of worrying about and consuming time and our money discussing inanities?
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