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What's a POP?

© Tim King

POPs are short for persistent organic pollutants. They include chemicals such as DDT and PCBs, both of which are banned in the United States, and others such various dioxin compounds which are byproducts in incineration, pesticides and pesticide manufacturing, and plastics manufacturing. They are, according to many respected organizations, among the most dangerous chemicals known to humans. And they are commonly found in human foods. In response to these facts, in December, 2000, an international POPs treaty was successfully negotiated to eliminate world wide production, use, and release of twelve of the most dangerous and pernicious POPs. The United Nation's Environment Programme treaty focused on these twelve POPs.

Twelve POPs Targeted for Global Ban:

Pesticides Industrial Toxins

Aldrin and Byproducts PCBs Chlordane Dioxins Endrin Furans DDT Dieldrin Heptachlor Hexachlorobenzene Mirex Toxaphene

In response to the treaty, in March, 2001, the Pesticide Action Network http://www.PANNA.org , in conjunction with Commonweal, published a report entitled Nowhere To Hide: Persistent Toxic Chemicals in the Food Supply.

"There is strong evidence that exposure to even minuscule amounts of POPs at critical periods of development, particularly in the womb, can cause irreversible damage. The effects of such exposures may take years to develop, sometimes appearing first in the offspring of exposed parents. Some of the human health effects now linked to POPs exposure include cancer, learning disorders, impaired immune function, reproductive problems (e.g., low sperm counts, endometriosis) and diabetes," Nowhere To Hide reports.

POPs enter the food US supply through the water supply, banned pesticide soil residues, from rain fall that washes dioxins from incineration out of the atmosphere, and, occasionally, on imported produce from countries where banned POPs are still in use.

Animal and vegetable products are effected by contamination from POPs. According to No Where to Hide the top 10 POPs contaminated food items, in alphabetical order, are butter, cantaloupe, cucumbers and pickles made from cucumbers, meat loaf, peanuts, popcorn, radishes, spinach, summer squash and winter squash. But all types of food, including baked goods, fruits, fish, and poultry are touched by POPs contamination. Butter, for instance, is contaminated with residues of Aldrin, PCBs, Chlordane, Dioxins, Furans, DDT, Dieldrin, Heptachlor, Hexachlorobenzene, and Mirex. So have a similar mix of the toxic twelve absent the dioxins and Hexachlorobenzene but with traces of endrin and toxaphene. The reports authors obtained the data on toxic twelve toxicity from the United States Department of Agriculture.

But the government is doing nothing to protect consumers from the risks posed by POPs.