Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

Context

According to a new study, Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) has declined in humans and the environment since 2004 due to tight regulation globally, along with 11 other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

About 

• POPs had been determined in every considered one of extra than 900 accrued samples in air, water, human milk, soil, red meat, milk, milk powder, butter, mutton, red meat, fowl, eggs, fish and shellfish, oil, and other items.
• The levels of 12 POPs which includes DDT have declined globally.
  • The report attributes the decline to regulatory movements implemented since 2004 to control the levels of such chemical compounds.
• Other POPs continue to be present anywhere.
  • For example, dieldrin and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), which have been regulated for long, have been detected at multiplied stages inside the air across the African continent, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs)

• They are organic chemical substances, that is, they are carbon-based.
• They resist environmental degradation through chemical, biological, and photolytic techniques.

Key characteristics of POPs consist of

• Persistence: POPs are immune to breakdown in the environment. Some can persist for years or even a long time without degrading.
• Bioaccumulation: POPs tend to accumulate inside the fatty tissues of living organisms thru the food chain.
  • This means that organisms higher up in the food chain, including humans, can accumulate better concentrations of POPs.
• Long-variety transport: POPs can journey long distances from their supply of emission.
  • They may be transported globally through processes which include atmospheric deposition and ocean currents.
• Toxicity: Many POPs are poisonous to both human and wildlife.
  • They can cause various unfavorable health effects, consisting of cancer, reproductive disorders, immune system disruption, and neurological effects.
• Examples of POPs encompass certain insecticides (e.g., DDT), industrial chemical compounds (e.g., polychlorinated biphenyls or PCBs), and accidental through-products of industrial techniques (e.g., dioxins and furans).
• Sources of pollution from POPs consist of the unsuitable use and/or disposal of agrochemicals and industrial chemical substances, increased temperatures and combustion strategies, and unwanted by-products of commercial procedures or combustion.

Regulation of POPs

• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): It targets to reduce releases of POPs chemical compounds on a global basis. The convention entered into force in 2004.
• Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade: It aims to promote shared obligations when it comes to importation of dangerous chemical compounds and contribute to safe use. The Convention entered into force in 2004.
• The Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal: It aims to defend human fitness and the surroundings against the damaging results as a result of the generation, management, transboundary actions and disposal of unsafe and other wastes. It came into force in 1992.
• Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollutants (LRTAP), Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs): The goal of the Convention is that Parties shall endeavor to limit and, as some distance as viable, steadily reduce and prevent air pollution together with lengthy-variety transboundary air pollutants.
  • The aim of the protocol on POPs is to control, reduce, or cast off discharges, emissions, and losses of chronic natural pollutants. The protocol entered into force in 2003.

Source: The DTE

UPSC Mains Practice Question

Q. As per the recent Study, Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane (DDT) has declined in humans and the environment since 2004 due to tight regulation globally, along with 11 other Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). Examine the causes, and the environmental and health impacts, of Persistent Organic Pollutants. (250 words)

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