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APRIL 20, 2001

President George W. Bush on Thursday said he will sign an international environmental treaty finalized by world leaders last December.

The treaty calls for a phaseout of the so-called "dirty dozen" chemicals. These include PCBs, dioxins, and pesticides, otherwise known as persistent organic pollutants, or POPs.

Indigenous people who live a subsistence lifestyle typically have twice the amount of dioxins in their bodies even though industrial nations thousands of miles away produce the majority of the pollutants.

The move comes after the Bush administration faced widespread criticism over its environmental stance. Bush has withdrawn support of a global warming treaty which the Senate had refused to ratify unless certain conditions were added.

Get the Story:
U.S. Set To Sign Chemical Treaty (The Washington Post 4/20)

Relevant Links:
How POPs threaten the Natural Environment and the Future of Indigenous Peoples - http://www.ienearth.org/pops_threat-p1.html
The Indigenous Environmental Network - http://www.ienearth.org
Contaminants in Alaska - http://www.state.ak.us/dec/deh/contaminants.htm
Persistent Organic Pollutants, the United Nations - http://irptc.unep.ch/pops

Related Stories:
AP: Bush to sign toxin treaty (4/19)
EPA dioxin report opposed (4/12)
Alaska hails pollutant treaty (12/13)
Negotiations begin to ban pollutants (12/5)
Alaska Natives call for toxin study (10/13)
Scientists trace Arctic pollution to US (10/4)
Dioxins are everywhere (10/4)