Keeping with recent calls for commitments
from all to contribute towards a pollution-free planet, experts and observers
joined members of the Rotterdam (RC) and Stockholm (SC) Conventions' chemical
review committees for back-to-back meetings in Rome, reports NaijaAgroNet.
The team, NaijaAgroNet gathered, reviewed a record
number of chemicals for inclusion in annexes of the two Conventions, both of
which aim to protect human health and the environment, the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP).
According to NaijaAgroNet findings, recommendations
cut across the Rotterdam Convention, and Stockholm Convention.
NaijaAgroNet reports that over 250 experts and
observers in total, from all regions of the world, gathered at the headquarters
of the FAO in Rome to conduct back-to-back meetings focused on the review of
scientific information on toxic chemicals, with a view to recommending
inclusion in the annexes of the two conventions, thus becoming regulated by
international law.
The latest FAO data, NaijaAgroNet reports, showed that
international pesticide sales are valued at up to USD 480 billion a year. UNEP
estimates that as many as three percent of those working in agriculture
worldwide suffer from acute pesticide poisoning, with adolescents facing a
higher risk.
Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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