AP: Bush to sign toxin treaty

APRIL 19, 2001

In advance of Earth Day, a source with the Bush administration told The Associated Press the President will announce his support for an international toxin treaty finalized last December.

The treaty calls for a phaseout of the so-called "dirty dozen" chemicals. These include PCBs, dioxins, and pesticides.

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.

Get the Story:
Bush supports treaty to ban 'dirty dozen' chemicals worldwide (AP 4/18)

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