Lead and Cadmium: Need for International Action?

IFCS/FSC/WG Lead and Cadmium/09 22 February 2008

Compiled input received on initial draft paper (by 21 February 2008): - C. Flavo (ISDE), O. Speranskaya (ECO-ACCORD), IFCS secretariat - P. Bakken (UNEP Chemicals) - A Kumar (Toxic Links) - S. Pavitranon, Thailand - International Cadmium Association - International Lead Association - M. Khwaja, SDPI - M Musenga, Zambia - M. Conti, SPES, Italy - WG Teleconference (18Feb08) Draft Summary Note

IIIFFFCCCSSS///FFFSSSCCC///WWWGGG LLLeeeaaaddd aaannnddd CCCaaadddmmmiiiuuummm///000444 DDDrrraaafffttt 222222---FFFeeebbb---000888111999---FFFeeebbb---000888222444---JJJaaannn---000888 CCCooonnnsssooollliiidddaaattteeeddd iiinnnpppuuuttt CONSOLIDATED COMMENTS: INPUT RECEIVED FROM C. FALVA (ISDE), O. SPERANSKAYA (ECO- ACCORD) AND IFCS SECRETARIAT (AS OF 22 FEB 2008) LEAD AND CADMIUM: NEED FOR INTERNATIONAL ACTION?

C. Flavo: - Why do we want a question mark in the title? It seems to me that the case for concern is very clear and the title should reflect this.

IFCS secretariat: Title - The scope and focus of the session has evolved since the FSC meeting last June. I think revisiting the title is important - the suggested new title or including something along the following lines as a subtitle ("arising from international transport via trade" ) will clearly convey to the reader the topic scope of the Forum VI plenary session and help everyone stay focused and on track (which will be a challenge I fear with such a hot topic as lead and cadmium.). The agenda for Forum VI can be revised (I anticipate a revision to be issued anyway following the FSC meeting in Bangkok as several other WGs will ask the FSC to consider the most appropriate - accurate - title for their session/paper .)

Prepared by The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) On behalf of the Government of Germany/Lead Sponsor

[date]

General comments:

C. Flavo: - The reference list is not in the format of the text references. This made it difficult to find the information needed. The format for reference list and text references needs to be brought into agreement or two lists--references for the paper and a bibliography, need to be genereated.

This IFCS reference paper was prepared by the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) on behalf of the Government of Germany/Lead Sponsor.

[contact info, if any]

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Lead and Cadmium: Need for International Action?

Prepared by The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) On behalf of the Government of Germany/Lead Sponsor

[authors]

[Date]

Table of Contents 1. Introduction...... 11 1.1. Background and Purpose of Reference Document ...... 11 1.2. Scope and Structure of Reference Document ...... 3 2. Framing the Issue...... 44 2.1. Toxicity and Eco-toxicity...... 44 2.1.1. Lead...... 44 2.1.2. Cadmium...... 55 2.2. International Trade Flows...... 66 2.2.1. Lead...... 66 2.2.2. Cadmium...... 77 2.3. Exposures to Lead and Cadmium Resulting from International Trade ...... 88 2.3.1. Primary production and exports...... 88 2.3.2. Imported products...... 99 2.3.3. Wastes...... 1010 2.4. International Agreements that Apply to Trade in Lead and Cadmium...... 1111 2.4.1. Rotterdam Convention...... 1111 2.4.2. Basel Convention...... 1212 2.4.3. Other agreements ...... 1313 3. Considerations for Whether Trade in a Hazardous Substance May Present an International Concern ...... 1413 3.1. Certain Substances or Activities Present an Unacceptable Risk to Human Health or the Environment ...... 1414 3.2. An Act or Omission by One or More Countries May Increase the Risk of Harm to Others ...... 1515 3.3. Countries Find It Difficult or Impossible to Protect Themselves Unilaterally from Increased Risk...... 1616 4. Discussion of Whether Trade in Lead and Cadmium May Present an International Concern...... 1818

IIIFFFCCCSSS///FFFSSSCCC///WWWGGG LLLeeeaaaddd aaannnddd CCCaaadddmmmiiiuuummm///000444 DDDrrraaafffttt 222222---FFFeeebbb---000888111999---FFFeeebbb---000888222444---JJJaaannn---000888 CCCooonnnsssooollliiidddaaattteeeddd iiinnnpppuuuttt 4.1. Do Lead and Cadmium Present an Unacceptable Risk to Human Health or the Environment? ...... 1818 4.2. Do Trade-Related Actions Increase the Risk of Harm from Lead and Cadmium? ...... 2020 4.3. Do Countries Have Difficulty Protecting Themselves Unilaterally? ...... 2121 [References] ...... 2525

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Lead and Cadmium: Need for International Action?

Prepared by The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL) On behalf of the Government of Germany/Lead Sponsor

[authors]

[date]

1. Introduction

1.1. Background and Purpose of Reference Document

1. At the fifth session of the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety (IFCS) held in Budapest 25-29 September 2006, Forum V adopted a statement on mercury, lead, and cadmium urging IFCS participants and the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM) to “consider actions at the local, national, regional and global levels for mercury, lead and cadmium, as appropriate, with particular emphasis on the needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition.”1 This reference document and the Forum VI session on lead and cadmium respond to this request by examining whether the dispersal of lead and cadmium through international trade of these metals as commodities and in products and wastes may warrant coordinated international action to protect human health and the environment. The reference document analyzes whether such trade may lead to problems that cannot be addressed by countries acting alone, whether those problems may rise to the level of an international concern, and thus whether they call for a coordinated international approach to addressing them. The reference document and Forum session are intended to complement other ongoing United Nations work on lead and cadmium, by providing input to discussions on the subject that may take place in 2009 at the second International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM-2) and the Twenty-Fifth Session of the UNEP Governing Council.

2. This important issue is not new. The IFCS and Organisation for Economic Co- operation and Development (OECD) addressed it during the 1990s, each exploring criteria for when a chemical might warrant international action. During that time, the UNEP Governing Council requested IFCS to develop recommendations on international

1 IFCS Forum V, The Budapest Statement on Mercury, Lead and Cadmium, para. 10 (2006) (IFCS/FORUM-V/05w, Executive Summary , para. 10 (2006) http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum5/report/en/index.html )

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action for an initial list of 12 persistent organic pollutants (POPs).2 In recommending to the Governing Council that negotiation of a legally binding instrument should commence, IFCS suggested that the “process should incorporate criteria pertaining to persistence, bioaccumulation, toxicity and exposure in different regions.”3 These criteria eventually evolved into the POPs criteria adopted in the Stockholm Convention, including the criterion of long-range environmental transport. However, IFCS never developed criteria for determining whether other, non-POPs chemicals may be chemicals of international concern.4

3. Beginning in 1990, OECD began the pilot phase of a “Co-operative Investigation and Risk Reduction of Existing Chemicals,” which included lead, cadmium, mercury, methylene chloride, and brominated flame retardants. Various principles and criteria were developed for “concerted OECD-wide action.” Most of them related to the nature of measures that OECD members might take, not on criteria for deciding whether the chemical warranted concerted action in the first place. In respect to characteristics of the chemicals themselves, the chemicals should “pose significant risk” and should result in “problems of a shared, transboundary or global nature.” In the specific case of lead, OECD was unable to agree whether wide trade in lead throughout the world necessitated international action.5

4. Subsequent considerations of the problems caused by metals have led to a general consensus that their persistence can give rise to a global concern if they are toxic or eco- toxic, bioaccumulate, and travel long distances after being released into the environment. The UNEP Governing Council found that the “deleterious impacts on human health and the environment attributed to mercury and its capacity for global transport/cycling” provided sufficient evidence to “warrant further international action to reduce the risks to human health and the environment from the release of mercury and its compounds to the environment.”6

5. In contrast to mercury, experts have not agreed on the potential for long-range environmental transport of lead and cadmium, although there is agreement that these metals are toxic, bioaccumulative, and persistent. This is why UNEP is currently conducting scientific reviews on lead and cadmium and compiling an inventory of existing risk management measures for further consideration at the 25th Governing Council meeting in 2009. The question of long-range transboundary environmental

2 UNEP Governing Council, Persistent Organic Pollutants, Decision 18/32 (1995). 3 IFCS, Ad Hoc Working Group on Persistent Organic Pollutants Meeting: Final Report, IFCS/WG.POPs/Report.1, para 56, p. 14, (1996), available at http://www.who.int/entity/ifcs/documents/general/adhoc_en.doc. 4 See IFCS, Third Meeting of the Intersessional Group: Final Report, IFCS/ISG3/98.50w, p. 19, para. 70 (1998), http://www.who.int/entity/ifcs/documents/general/isg3_report_en.pdf. A workshop at which interested countries would discuss the issue was proposed for 1998, postponed to 2000, but ultimately never held. 5 See IFCS, Forum II, Thematic Session on Partnership: Lead Risk Reduction, IFCS/FORUM-II/97.05B, pp. 2-3 (1996). (sponsored by OECD) 6 UNEP Governing Council, Mercury Programme, Decision 22/4 V para. 1, pg. 47 (2003). http://www.unep.org/gc/gc22/REPORTS/K0360710English.pdf

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transport of lead and cadmium has also been extensively considered under the UNECE Convention on Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP).

1.2. Scope and Structure of Reference Document

6. Because these ongoing international efforts are intended to address the long-range environmental transport issue, this reference document does not do that. Instead, the document focuses on the health and environmental problems that may be related to the international transport of lead and cadmium via trade. If countries are unable to address those problems effectively through unilateral or bilateral action, then there may be a need for coordinated international action and support. This is particularly true for developing countries and countries with economies in transition that may have limited capacity and capability for the sound management of chemicals.

7. This reference document uses the term “international concern” to describe the potential multilateral dimension of the risks to human health and the environment that may result from trade of lead and cadmium. The reference document uses the concept of international transport via trade to distinguish its focus from the assessment of “long- range environmental transport” potential, which is the subject of the LRTAP Convention, the Stockholm POPs Convention, and UNEP’s scientific review of lead and cadmium, among other international efforts.

8. The reference document focuses on whether international trade in lead and cadmium may lead to problems that call for a coordinated international approach to address them. Thus, it concentrates on considerations that may be relevant to whether a global or international approach may be warranted, and not on the specific response measures that could be used to address the problems. IFCS Forum VI may wish to consider options for international activities to address the increased health and environmental risks resulting from the international trade in lead and cadmium, based on countries’ experiences.

9. The reference document acknowledges (as the UNEP interim reviews of scientific information on lead and cadmium have acknowledged) that there are significant data gaps on the international trade flows of lead and cadmium. The reference document concurs that “substance flows as a consequence of trade and waste disposal, mainly in developing and transition countries, are major causes of human exposure.”7

10. The reference document is presented in four Parts:

Part 1 (the present part) is the Introduction.

7 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Lead, p. 164 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Lead_review_Interim- Oct2006.pdf; UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 149 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf.

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Part 2 frames the issue by summarizing relevant information on lead and cadmium, including toxicity and eco-toxicity, international trade flows, environmental health problems that may be related to international trade, and multilateral agreements relevant to such trade.

8 Part 3 responds to requests raised at Forum V [s1] by suggesting considerations that may guide discussion of whether or not the health and environmental impacts of trade of hazardous substances throughout their lifecycles may rise to the level of an international concern that warrants a coordinated international approach.

Part 4 discusses lead and cadmium in the context of the considerations presented in Part 3.

11. [Finally, the document contains a References section at the end that lists all of the authorities and documents cited in the reference document, as well as additional documents that may be of interest to stakeholders, including their internet addresses.][s2]

2. Framing the Issue

12. This Part frames the issue by briefly summarizing information on lead and cadmium with respect to: toxicity and eco-toxicity, international trade flows, environmental health problems that may be related to international trade, and international agreements relevant to such trade.

2.1. Toxicity and Eco-toxicity

13. Lead and cadmium are toxic at very low exposure levels and have both acute and chronic effects on human health and the environment.

2.1.1. Lead

14. Lead is highly toxic to humans and can have toxic effects at very low exposure levels. Acute and chronic effects on human health include neurological, cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, hematological, and reproductive effects.9 Lead is one of the most dangerous chemicals for children and developing fetuses. Other vulnerable population groups include socially and economically disadvantaged populations and the

8 See Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety, Forum V, Abstracts for the Side-event on Heavy metals: Health and environmental concerns associated with heavy metals; global needs for further action? (September 23, 2006), (hosted by Government of Switzerland), available at http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum5/abstract_en.doc 9 Nordic Council of Ministers, Lead Review, sec. 5.2 (January 2003), available at http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum5/nmr_lead.pdf.

4 DDDrrraaafffttt 222222---FFFeeebbb---000888111999---FFFeeebbb---000888222444---JJJaaannn---000888 malnourished, whose diets are deficient in proteins and calcium.10 Lead exposures occur in most, or all, countries of the world.11

15. Lead has well-documented toxic effects on plants, animals, and micro-organisms. In all animal species studied lead has been shown to cause adverse effects in several organs and systems, including blood, central nervous system, kidneys, and reproductive, and immune systems.12 Lead bioaccumulates in mammals, aquatic algae, and invertebrates.13 It can enter surface waters both as a result of erosion of lead-containing soil particles and dumping of waste containing lead products.14

2.1.2. Cadmium

16. Cadmium exposure produces a wide variety of acute and chronic effects in humans, leading to a build-up of cadmium in the kidneys that can cause kidney disease.15 For nonsmokers, food is generally the largest source of exposure.16 The population at highest risk consists of women with nutritional deficiencies or low iron stores, people with kidney disorders, and fetuses and children with low body iron stores. Maternal exposure to cadmium is associated with low birth weight and an increase of spontaneous abortion.17 An increased risk of lung cancer has been reported following inhalation exposure in occupational settings.18

17. Like lead, cadmium is toxic to plants, animals, and micro-organisms. Cadmium is persistent and bioaccumulates mainly in the kidneys and liver of vertebrates. It also

10 UNEP Chemicals, Interim review of scientific information on lead (October 2006) p. 12, available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Lead_review_Interim- Oct2006.pdf 11 Id. at 9. 12 Id p. 10 13 Nordic Council of Ministers. Lead Review. p. 3 (January 2003), available at http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum5/nmr_lead.pdf 14 UNEP. Lead and Cadmium Working Group. Report of the first meeting of the Lead and Cadmium Working Group, Annex 1, p. 6, UNEP(DTIE)/Pb&Cd/WG.1/6 (October 2006) 15 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 10 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf; See also Nordic Council of Ministers, Cadmium Review, sec. 3 (January 2003), available at http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum5/nmr_cadmium.pdf. 16 United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Technology Transfer Network Air Toxics Web Site. Cadmium Compounds Hazard Summary-Created in April 1992; Revised in January 2000. Available at: http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/cadmium.html 17 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 46 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf 18 Id. p. 41; See also United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Technology Transfer Network Air Toxics Web Site. Cadmium Compounds (January 2000), available at http://www.epa.gov/ttn/atw/hlthef/cadmium.html. The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies cadmium as a human carcinogen group I; the US Environmental Protection Agency has classified cadmium as a Group B1, probable human carcinogen.

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bioaccumulates in aquatic invertebrates and algae, which are the organisms most sensitive to it. The accumulation of cadmium by plants results in this contaminant entering the human food chain.19

2.2. International Trade Flows[s3]

18. The UNEP interim reviews of scientific information on lead and cadmium both note that there are significant data gaps on international flows in these metals, which necessitate additional research in order to set priorities for global action to reduce risks.20

2.2.1. Lead

19. The production and consumption of lead ore, metals, compounds, and lead- containing products is a global enterprise, in which each of the many steps along the lifecycle of a product often is conducted in a different country.21 Lead is mined in more than forty countries. There is extensive global trade of lead raw materials. Lead is also used and traded globally as a metal in various products. The major use of lead in recent years has been in lead batteries, accounting for 78 per cent of reported global consumption in 2003.22 Other major application areas are lead compounds, lead sheets, ammunition, alloys, cable sheathing, and petrol additives.23

20. The global consumption of lead increased from 4.5 to 6.8 million tons during the period of 1970 to 2003.24 China is the world’s major producer and user of lead; consumption there more than doubled from 510,000 to 1,180,000 tons between 1998 and 2005.25 As of 2004, the major exporters of lead concentrates and ores to China were Australia, Peru, and the United States. The major importers of refined lead from China were the Republic of Korea, Taiwan, and Thailand.26

19 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 8 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf. 20 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Lead, p. 164 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Lead_review_Interim- Oct2006.pdf; UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 149 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf. 21 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Lead, p. 81 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Lead_review_Interim- Oct2006.pdf. 22 Id. p. 7 23 Id. p. 79 24 Id. p. 83 25 Id. p. 85 26 Id. p. 82

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21. Recycling of electronic waste (e-waste) has added another link to the global lead enterprise.27 Vast quantities of e-waste are sent to countries like China, India, Nigeria, and Kenya.28 Coming full circle, high levels of lead have been found in cheap jewelry imported into the United States from China. Some of the lead used by the Chinese manufacturers comes from electronic waste exported from western countries.29 (it would be important to give other examples and not the example of China only. In many countries lead is still used in paintings – Russia, India. Lead is used in crystal wineglasses – bohemian glass)

2.2.2. Cadmium

22. Cadmium is also used and traded globally as a metal and as a component in various products. Production and consumption of cadmium, cadmium compounds, and cadmium-containing products are carried out on a global scale. Cadmium-containing concentrates are extracted all over the world, mainly as a by-product of zinc production.30 The locus of cadmium primary production shifted between 1995 and 2005, with production in Asia increasing sharply and production in Europe decreasing correspondingly.31

23. The trend in global cadmium consumption over the last two decades has been a steep increase in the use of cadmium for batteries and a decrease in use for nearly all other applications. Nickel-cadmium (NiCd) batteries represented 82 percent of world consumption in 2005.32 NiCd batteries are manufactured in a global chain: raw materials originate in one country, batteries are produced in another, the batteries are incorporated into products in yet another, and consumers purchase and use the products in still another country.33

24. A report prepared for the International Cadmium Association in 2005 notes both the continued growing domestic Chinese market and export market, as well as the potential for growth in other emerging and transitional markets such as India, Russia, and

27 See San Diego E-Waste LLC., Problems Caused By Electronic Waste, available at http://www.sdewaste.com/ewaste.html. A typical computer monitor may contain more than 6% lead by weight. 28 Associated Press, American Consumers Unwittingly Fuel Toxic Trade in Electronic Waste, International Herald Tribune (November 17, 2007), available at http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=8373931 29 Fairclough G., China: Lead Toxins Take a Global Round Trip, The Wall Street Journal (July 12, 2007). Note that electronic waste represents 2 percent of America's trash in landfills, but it equals 70 percent of overall toxic waste. Lead can be found in circuit boards and monitor cathode ray tubes (CRTs). Puckett J. et al., The Digital Dump: Exporting Re-use and Abuse to Africa, Basel Action Network, (October 24, 2005), available at http://www.ban.org/BANreports/10-24-05/documents/TheDigitalDump.pdf 30 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 79 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf. 31 Id. p. 78 32 Id. p. 81 33 Id. p. 79

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Brazil.34 Cadmium, like lead, is a common component of electronic waste, found in chip resistors, infrared detectors, and semiconductors.35

2.3. Exposures to Lead and Cadmium Resulting from International Trade

25. This section identifies some of the risks to human health and the environment that may be traced to international trade in lead and cadmium compounds, products, and wastes. The dramatic expansion of global trade has led to the globalization of many public health and environmental problems.36 According to the UNEP Executive Director, “Accelerating trade in goods and materials across borders and across continents is one of the defining features of the early 21st century.”37 While acknowledging that there are data gaps on lead and cadmium flows that require additional research, each of the UNEP interim reviews of scientific information on lead and cadmium states that the “substance flows as a consequence of trade and waste disposal, mainly in developing and transition countries, are major causes of human exposure.”38

2.3.1. Primary production and exports

26. International demand for products containing lead and cadmium stimulates continued mining, refining, and production of lead and cadmium metals, compounds, and products, especially in developing countries that have little capacity to prevent, reduce, or mitigate the severe environmental health risks that such activities often entail. For example, the Doe Run multi-metal smelting facility in La Oroya, Peru (considered to be one of the ten most contaminated sites of 2006) has caused widespread lead poisoning. According to a 1999 study by Peru’s Ministry of Health, 99.1 per cent of the children in La Oroya suffered from lead poisoning [if it is available the average lead level might or might not be useful here—if it is say above 10, a truly worrisome level as opposed to 4 or 5, then the argument for action would be stronger]. A 2007 study reports that air levels

34 International Cadmium Association, Morrow H., Cadmium Markets and Trends (September 2005), available at http://www.chem.unep.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Submission%20NGO/ICdA/MARKET%20Review%20Sept 2005-1.pdf 35 Puckett J., et. al., The Digital Dump: Exporting Re-use and Abuse to Africa, Basel Action Network (October 24, 2005), available at http://www.ban.org/BANreports/10-24- 05/documents/TheDigitalDump.pdf 36 Bettcher D., Yach D., and Guindon G.E, Global trade and health: key linkages and future challenges, Bulletin of the World Health Organization (2000), avail able at www.who.int/docstore/bulletin/pdf/2000/issued4/bu0215.pdf 37 BCC, UN warning on e-waste “mountain”, BBC News (November 27, 2006), available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/6187358.stm (quoting Achim Steiner) 38 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Lead, p. 165 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Lead_review_Interim- Oct2006.pdf; UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 149 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf.

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of lead remain four to seven times higher than allowed under Peruvian standards.39 (probably it would be good to compare to the EU or US standards here)

27. Primary production of cadmium has shifted to Asia, where it is now five times the production level in Europe.40 China, Korea, and Mexico rank among the major producers of primary cadmium metal, and China is a main producer of portable NiCd batteries.41 Soils contaminated with cadmium are a serious problem in many Asian countries, where cadmium enters the food supply, especially rice; more than ten percent of China’s arable land is contaminated with cadmium.42

28. Because these “environmental externalities” or costs are rarely reflected in the prices consumers in other countries pay for manufactured goods, they represent damage to human and ecological health for which the producing countries are usually not compensated.

2.3.2. Imported products

29. While many industrialized countries have adopted complex regulatory approaches to address the health and environmental risks of lead and cadmium, they have not been able effectively to control releases and exposures that result from traded goods. For example, both the United States and Denmark have NiCd battery collection and recycling programs. Nevertheless, “a significant part of the batteries will be disposed of with municipal solid waste.”43

30. Public health officials in the United States have not been able to screen imported children’s toys effectively for lead content. In 2007 the toy maker Mattel recalled 0.75 million Chinese-made toys that were discovered with paint containing lead levels exceeding safety standards.44 Tests conducted by a coalition of environmental health groups found that 35 percent of 1,200 tested children’s products contained lead, many with levels far above the federal recall standard for lead paint.45 High levels of lead have

39 Censo Hemático del Centro de Salud La Oroya-DIRESA-2007, reported in: Abanto, C. Segundo Informe sobre Evolución de la calidad de Aire en La Oroya. Asociación Civil Labor, (May 2007) available at http://www.aida-americas.org/templates/aida/uploads/docs/Cond_CalidadLaOroya_varios_07-05.pdf 40 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 78 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf. 41 Id. p. 79 42 Greenwire, TOXICS: Cadmium batteries sickening workers, environment in China, E&E Publishing LLC (January 15, 2008). 43 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 125 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf. 44 BBC, Third recall for China-made toys, BBC News, (September 5, 2007), available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/6979151.stm 45 Associated Press, Lead found in toys in stores, Los Angeles Times (December 5, 2007), available at http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toys5dec05,1,2369615.story?coll=la-headlines-business

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recently been found in inexpensive jewelry exported from China.; sSome of the lead in the jewelry was traced to computers and other electronic goods discarded in western countries and exported to China (from he Western countries?). A child child (in the US?)was reported to have died in 2006 from acute lead poisoning after swallowing a piece of Chinese-made jewelry.46

31. Imported products containing lead and cadmium that can cause exposure through normal use are also a growing problem in developing countries and economies in transition.47 For example, India imports an estimated 70 per cent of plastic toys on its market. Eighty-eight of 111 PVC toys and other soft toys sampled from Delhi, Chennai, and Mumbai contained lead and cadmium in varying concentrations. India does not have any enforceable standard for the total content of lead, cadmium, or other toxic metals in toys.48

2.3.3. Wastes

32. E-waste is the fastest growing component of municipal waste worldwide, with 20- 50 million tons generated annually.49 Electronic equipment traded as “used” is often non- operational, i.e., it is really e-waste. Much of this waste is exported to countries like China, India, Nigeria, and Kenya, where uncontrolled burning of wastes and improper processing of toxic components⎯often extracted using hammers, gas burners, or bare hands⎯causes occupational health and safety and environmental problems.50 Exports of obsolete electronic equipment effectively shift the costs of environmentally sound disposal from industrialized to poor countries, which do not have the capacity to manage the lead and cadmium waste in an environmentally sound manner.51 Accordingly, some of the lead and cadmium in this equipment “will be released to the environment, the extent of which depends on disposal methods, control technologies applied and other factors.”52

46 Fairclough G., China: Lead Toxins Take a Global Round Trip, The Wall Street Journal (July 12, 2007). 47 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 6 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf. 48 Kumar, Dr. A., Pastore, P., Toying with Toxics: An investigation of lead and cadmium in soft plastic toys in three cities in India, Toxics Link (September 2006), available at http://www.toxicslink.org/docs/06161_Toying_with_Toxics_full_report.pdf 49 Nakagawa L., Toxic Trade: The Real Cost of Electronics Waste Exports from the United States, EarthTrends (June 2006) available at http://earthtrends.wri.org/features/view_feature.php?theme=3&fid=66 50 Associated Press, American Consumers Unwittingly Fuel Toxic Trade in Electronic Waste, International Herald Tribune (November 17, 2007), available at http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=8373931 51 Renckens, S., A network and flows perspective on e-waste trade and its governance, IIEB Draft Working Paper (February 2007). 52 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 5 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf.

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33. Improper disposal of e-waste can lead to the release of significant amounts of lead and cadmium into the air, water, and soil. Products containing lead and cadmium are “not typically collected separately from the general waste stream in developing countries.”53 .”54 The same problem is faced by countries with economies in transition. Uncontrolled burning and indiscriminate dumping of such waste may be an important source of local and regional cadmium emissions to the atmosphere and to land and aquatic systems.55 Lead that is stockpiled in landfills and other waste deposits represents a significant potential source for future releases to the environment.56 The Indian National Center for Lead Poisoning reports that the dumping and unsupervised recycling of e-waste has led to high blood levels in half the children in cities like Bangalore, possibly resulting in lowered IQs.57[if most of the children studied are under 3 years of age then it is probably, not ‘possibly’, resulting in lowered IQs]

2.4. International Agreements that Apply to Trade in Lead and Cadmium[s4]

34. Few international agreements directly apply to, or take into account, international trade in lead and cadmium or materials containing them. Those that do include the Rotterdam and Basel Conventions. The Basel Convention broadly covers all types of wastes that contain lead and cadmium, while the Rotterdam Convention’s present coverage of lead products is very narrow, and it does not cover cadmium at all.

2.4.1. Rotterdam Convention

35. The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade (1998)58 has two objectives: (1) to promote shared responsibility and cooperative efforts among Parties in the international trade of certain hazardous chemicals in order to protect human health and the environment from potential harm; and (2) to contribute to the environmentally sound use of those chemicals by facilitating information exchange about their characteristics, providing for a national decision-making process on their import and export, and disseminating these decisions to Parties.

36. The heart of the Convention is its PIC procedure. Certain banned or severely restricted chemicals and severely hazardous pesticide formulations appear in Annex III,

53 Id. p. 5 54 Id. p. 5 55 Id. p. 4-5; UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Lead, p. 6-7 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Lead_review_Interim- Oct2006.pdf. 56 Nordic Council of Ministers. Lead Review. p. 3 (January 2003), available at http://www.who.int/ifcs/documents/forums/forum5/nmr_lead.pdf 57 Simmons, D., India's poor tackle toxic e-waste, BBC News (October 14, 2005), available at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/click_online/4341494.stm 58 See ROTTERDAM CONVENTION ON THE PRIOR INFORMED CONSENT PROCEDURE FOR CERTAIN HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS AND PESTICIDES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE (1998), available at http://www.pic.int/en/ConventionText/ONU-GB.pdf

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the “PIC list.” Parties may export listed substances to other Parties only if the prospective importing Party first provides its informed consent. Exporting Parties must provide importing Parties with an export notification that includes specified information when they (or an entity in their territory) wish to export a chemical that is banned or severely restricted in their own territories, but not yet included in Annex III. Importing Parties may require additional information about the chemical related to occupational safety or environmental or human health.

37. Tetraethyl lead and tetramethyl lead, two anti-knocking agents for gasoline (petrol), are on the PIC list. Of the many lead compounds and products containing lead in international trade, only trade in these compounds (which is declining as leaded gasoline is phased out worldwide) is subject to the PIC procedure. Cadmium is not listed, and thus not covered.

2.4.2. Basel Convention

38. The fundamental aims of the Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and Their Disposal are to control and reduce transboundary movements of hazardous and other wastes, prevent and minimize their generation, support the environmentally sound management of such wastes, and actively promote the transfer and use of cleaner technologies. The Basel Convention covers toxic and eco-toxic wastes, including lead and cadmium. It sets up a framework for controlling the transboundary movement of hazardous wastes, allowing such movements only upon prior written notification by the State of export to the competent authorities of the States of import and transit.

39. The Convention defines “environmentally sound management” of hazardous or other wastes as “taking all practicable steps to ensure that hazardous wastes or other wastes are managed in a manner which will protect human health and the environment against the adverse effects which may result from such wastes.”59 The Convention requires Parties to cooperate in developing technical guidelines to improve and achieve environmentally sound management of wastes. Over the years, a number of technical guidelines related to various kinds of wastes and waste streams have been developed to assist Parties, especially developing country Parties, in their efforts to achieve environmentally sound management of wastes. Among these is “Draft technical guidelines on the environmentally sound recycling/reclamation of metals and metal compounds (R4),” which focuses mainly on the recycling and reclamation of twelve metals and metal compounds (including lead and cadmium) that are listed in Annex I to the Basel Convention.60 The Convention in 2003 adopted “Technical guidelines for the

59 BASEL CONVENTION ON THE CONTROL OF TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS OF HAZARDOUS WASTE AND THEIR DISPOSAL, art. 2.8 (March 22, 1989). 60 Conference of the Parties to the Basel Convention, Seventh Meeting, Draft Technical Guidelines on the Environmentally Sound Recycling/Reclamation of Metals and Metal Compounds (R4), UNEP/CHW.7/8/Add.3 (2004).

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environmentally sound management of waste lead-acid batteries.”61 The Secretariat has also released a training manual for the preparation of national management plans for lead batteries in the context of Basel implementation.62

40. The Convention is also developing partnerships and programmes of activities on the environmentally sound management of e-waste, including from mobile phones, computers, and other sources.63 One of the challenges of the process is how to distinguish between waste and non-waste in international trade, because a great amount of e-waste may be moved across borders under the guise of used products (non-waste).

2.4.3. Other agreements

41. The Aarhus Protocol on Heavy Metals is one of the eight protocols to the UNECE Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP).64 Though any State may ratify LRTAP and the Aarhus Protocol, only States in the UNECE region have done so. The Protocol requires parties to reduce their releases of cadmium, lead, and mercury with the objective of cutting emissions from large, stationary sources, including industrial sources (iron and steel and non-ferrous metal production), combustion processes (power generation and road transport), and waste incineration. The Aarhus Protocol also promotes technology exchange and other forms of cooperation between the parties. With respect to waste incineration, the Protocol provides guidance on “product management measures” such as substitution and labeling to reduce the amount of metals in the waste stream.65 While these provisions are non-binding and do not regulate imported products, their effectiveness may be undercut by imported products that contain lead and cadmium.

42. Other regional agreements such as the OSPAR and Helsinki Conventions also address lead and cadmium emissions that harm the marine environment in the north-east Atlantic and the Baltic Sea, respectively. Like the Aarhus Protocol, they do not regulate international trade in lead or cadmium, or in products containing these metals.

61 See Basel Convention Secretariat, series/SBC No. 2003/9, available at http://www.basel.int/pub/techguid/tech-wasteacid.pdf. 62 Basel Convention Secretariat, Training Manual for the Preparation of National Used Lead Acid Batteries Environmentally Sound Management Plans in the Context of the Implementation of the Basel Convention, Basel Convention Series SBC No 2004/5 (2004), http://www.basel.int/meetings/sbc/workdoc/tm-ulab/techdocs.html. 63 Open-ended Working Group, Report on the Control of Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal, Sec XII D: Workplan for 2009–2010, UNEP/CHW/OEWG/6/29 (September 2007) available at http://www.basel.int/meetings/oewg/oewg6/docs/29e.pdf. 64 THE 1979 CONVENTION ON LONG-RANGE TRANSBOUNDARY AIR POLLUTION ON HEAVY METALS (1998), available at http://www.unece.org/env/lrtap/full%20text/1979.CLRTAP.e.pdf 65 THE 1998 AARHUS PROTOCOL ON HEAVY METALS, Annex VII (1998).

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3. Considerations for Whether Trade in a Hazardous Substance May Present an International Concern

43. This Part suggests considerations that may guide discussion of whether the trade in hazardous substances such as lead and cadmium throughout their lifecycles may increase risks to human health and the environment to the level of an “international concern” warranting a coordinated international approach. International law does not provide a definition of “international concern.”66 However, relevant criteria for determining whether a chemical may constitute an international concern, such that an international coordinated approach is warranted, may be derived from international chemicals law and other areas of international law and agreement.

44. Three common considerations underlie the development of most multilateral chemicals and environmental agreements that have trade-related provisions. They relate, respectively, to questions of risk, responsibility, and remedy:

(i) The international community perceives that certain substances or activities present an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment. (ii) An action (or failure to act) by one or more countries may increase the risk of harm to other countries from the substances or activities. (iii) These third countries find it difficult or impossible to protect themselves unilaterally from the increased risk.

3.1. Certain Substances or Activities Present an Unacceptable Risk to Human Health or the Environment

45. This is an obvious consideration for all of the chemicals and trade-related environmental conventions. The international community has undertaken numerous assessments to ascertain the hazards and risks associated with substances of possible international concern. IFCS substantially undertook the international assessment that ultimately led to adoption of the Stockholm Convention; UNEP’s global assessment of mercury and its compounds has provided the basis for the Governing Council’s ongoing consideration of whether there should be an international framework or instrument for addressing the risks of mercury. In the case of lead and cadmium, UNEP has developed interim reviews of scientific information on these metals, focusing especially on long- range environmental transport, to inform Governing Council discussions on the need for global action. While these assessments are essential to inform policy makers about the nature of the risk, the question of whether the risks are unacceptable—and thus may warrant global[s5] action—must ultimately be answered by States through the political process. Moreover, the scope of the assessment, e.g., to examine risks associated with

66 Note also that there is no definition of “global concern” in international law either; rather there are agreed criteria for what constitutes a chemical of “global concern” have been promulgated for one class of chemicals, POPs, but not for other groups of substances. The POPs criteria may or may not be relevant for other classes of substances.

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long-range environmental transport or international transport via trade, may make a substantial difference in the nature and degree of the risks that are identified.

46. The determination by stakeholders that particular substances or activities present an unacceptable risk may be influenced by several lines of inquiry. These may include:

• Is harm from the substance or activity occurring now? Is there a high level of confidence that it will occur in the future if no action is taken? • Are many countries, people, or species placed at risk by the substance or activity? • How fully can the hazard and risk be characterized, quantified, or otherwise substantiated and demonstrated? • Are the human health or environmental impacts temporary or permanent? In particular, might they impact future generations? Are certain vulnerable groups at greater risk? • May the harm lead to secondary or related effects, such as impairing economic development, causing social unrest, or exacerbating poverty? • Are there beneficial or economically important uses of the substance or activity that should be considered? Are substitutes or alternatives available?

3.2. An Act or Omission by One or More Countries May Increase the Risk of Harm to Others

47. As the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development acknowledges, “States have, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the principles of international law . . . the responsibility to ensure that activities within their jurisdiction or control do not cause damage to the environment of other States or of areas beyond the limits of national jurisdiction.”67 Additionally, “States should effectively cooperate to discourage or prevent the relocation and transfer to other States of any activities and substances that cause severe environmental degradation or are found to be harmful to human health.”68 Thus, States should ensure that their acts or omissions, including those related to international trade and investment, do not increase the risk of environmental harm to other countries, or to common resources upon which other countries depend (such as the atmosphere).

48. Moreover, the “developed countries acknowledge the responsibility that they bear in the international pursuit of sustainable development in view of the pressures their societies place on the global environment and of the technologies and financial resources they command.”69 This principle of common but differentiated responsibilities suggests that the demand of developed countries for commodities and products that may involve

67 RIO DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, Principle. 2 (1992). 68 RIO DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, Principle. 14 (1992). 69 RIO DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, Principle. 7 (1992).

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49. The consideration of whether a country’s acts or omissions may increase the risk of harm to others provides an essential rationale for the presence of trade-related measures in multilateral chemicals and environmental agreements. In some, such as the Stockholm POPs Convention and the Montreal Protocol on Ozone Depleting Substances, it reflects an understanding that trade in the hazardous substance could undercut the effectiveness of other measures taken in those agreements to address the problem. In others, such as the Basel and Rotterdam Conventions and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES), it reflects an understanding that international trade, itself, may be among the primary factors giving rise to the risk that needs to be addressed. For example, international trade in certain hazardous substances may result in the substances being used or disposed of in an importing country that does not have the capacity to do so in an environmentally sound manner. Conversely, international trade may be a driver of market forces that result in unsustainable exploitation of natural resources in a country where harmful acts cannot be regulated effectively, such as taking endangered species of wildlife or plants.

50. In exploring whether an act or omission (such as the failure to regulate international trade of a hazardous substance sufficiently) by one or more countries may lead to an unacceptable risk to human health or the environment in other countries, stakeholders may examine:

• Whether a significant amount of the risk may be traced to the trade? • Whether it is reasonably foreseeable that the trade will contribute to the risk? • The extent to which the trade allows an importing country to avoid internalizing the environmental and health risks or costs related to its consumption, and instead externalize those costs to its trading partners? • Whether there are mitigating factors to consider related to the trade, such as increased incomes in poor countries?

3.3. Countries Find It Difficult or Impossible to Protect Themselves Unilaterally from Increased Risk

51. When individual States can effectively prevent or address an environmental or health risk on their own or bilaterally, they do not need to pursue multilateral remedies. Instead, States have taken action under the multilateral chemicals and wastes and other environmental agreements when significant numbers of them have found it difficult or impossible to protect themselves unilaterally from a transboundary risk, including risks that may be related to international trade. A widespread recognition of vulnerability to such risks is thus a key consideration as to whether a risk to human health and the environment may rise to the level of an “international concern” warranting an international, coordinated approach.

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52. A State’s difficulty in taking effective, unilateral action may derive from at least two different factors. The first factor relates to the State’s capacity to deal with the risk. Capacity is usually, and appropriately, associated with the needs of developing countries and countries with economies in transition. As governments agreed in the Rio Declaration, “The special situation and needs of developing countries, particularly the least developed and those most environmentally vulnerable, shall be given special priority. . . .”70 All of the major multilateral chemicals and wastes agreements cite the limited capacities of developing countries to manage hazardous wastes and substances soundly as an important reason why the agreement is needed.71 They also recognize the critical relationship of financial and technology assistance to these capacity needs.

53. An additional, important aspect of capacity relates to the ability of all States, both developed and developing, to protect themselves from hazardous substances that are widely distributed through environmental media or international commerce. For example, both developed and developing countries have great difficulty protecting themselves from persistent organic pollutants and mercury once these substances are released into the environment. Similarly, both developed and developing countries have great difficulty screening their imports for the presence of contaminants such as lead, and they are challenged in their efforts to achieve environmentally sound disposal of imported products that contain cadmium.72

54. The second factor relates to whether international trade law may have a “chilling effect” on the ability or willingness of individual countries to take unilateral measures to address an environmental health risk that can be traced to international trade. In respect to trade policies, “Environmental measures addressing transboundary or global environmental problems should, as far as possible, be based on an international consensus.”73 World Trade Organization rulings suggest that trade-related environmental and health measures taken by States pursuant to multilateral efforts would not run afoul of WTO requirements.74 The potential for conflicts between international trade law and unilateral efforts by States to protect themselves from environmental health risks that

70 RIO DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, Principle. 6 (1992). 71 See BASEL CONVENTION ON THE CONTROL OF TRANSBOUNDARY MOVEMENTS OF HAZARDOUS WASTES AND THEIR DISPOSAL, Preamble (1992); See also STOCKHOLM CONVENTION ON PERSISTENT ORGANIC POLLUTANTS (POPS), Preamble, (2001); See also ROTTERDAM CONVENTION ON THE PRIOR INFORMED CONSENT PROCEDURE FOR CERTAIN HAZARDOUS CHEMICALS AND PESTICIDES IN INTERNATIONAL TRADE, Preamble (2004); See also Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management, Dubai Declaration on Internatonal Chemicals Management, Sec. III: Statement of Needs (2006); See also Strategic Approach to International Chemicals Management, Overarching Policy Strategy, Statement of Needs (2005) 72 See UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf. 73 RIO DECLARATION ON ENVIRONMENT AND DEVELOPMENT, Principle. 12 (1992).. 74 Report of the Appellate Body, United States – Import Prohibition of Certain Shrimp and Shrimp Products (“Shrimp/Turtle 21.5”), WT/DS58/AB/RW, adopted on 21 November 2001, para 111-134; BERNASCONI- OSTERWALDER, NATHALIE ET AL, ENVIRONMENT AND TRADE: A GUIDE TO WTO JURISPRUDENCE 128-135 (Earthscan: London, 2006).

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may result from international trade may thus be a factor in deciding whether such a risk should be considered an “international concern” warranting an international, coordinated approach.

55. In deciding whether the difficulty or impossibility of States to protect themselves unilaterally from risks related to international trade in hazardous substances should contribute to the substance being considered one of international concern, stakeholders may consider:

• Whether measures regarding the presence and risks of hazardous substances in products that are subject to international trade can be taken most effectively and efficiently by producers or importing States? • Whether an industrialized country with significant chemicals management capacity is able to address the harm by itself? • Whether developing countries and countries with economies in transition that are experiencing the harm have the technical, financial, legal, and other resources to address it by themselves? If they do not, are there barriers to their receiving sufficient bilateral assistance? If so, could these barriers be overcome through multilateral action? • Whether measures addressing international trade in the hazardous substance (including, possibly, process and production methods) would be the most efficient and effective way to prevent the harm from occurring? If so, would the measures best be implemented through a multilateral arrangement or by the individual States that are being harmed? • Whether a multilateral framework would be necessary or desirable to avoid challenges to national efforts under international trade law? • The extent to which existing multilateral frameworks or agreements may be able to respond to the challenges posed by the hazardous substances in question?

4. Discussion of Whether Trade in Lead and Cadmium May Present an International Concern

56. This Part discusses international trade in lead and cadmium within the context of the considerations presented in Part 3.

4.1. Do Lead and Cadmium Present an Unacceptable Risk to Human Health or the Environment?

57. Health and environmental harms caused by exposure to lead and cadmium throughout their lifecycles occur every day around the world. Global use of ores, compounds, products, and wastes continues apace for cadmium, and is increasing for lead. Electronic wastes, the fastest growing component of municipal waste worldwide, are exported to countries that are unable to manage them in an environmentally sound

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manner. Global trade in products and materials is expanding dramatically. In the globalized economy, the likelihood is high that the harms caused by primary production and exports, imported products and waste will continue to occur, and likely increase, in the future, if no action is taken.

58. Exposure to lead and cadmium ores, compounds, and products and wastes containing lead and cadmium that place people and wild flora and fauna at risk, are well documented and occur in most, if not all, countries of the world. The UNEP Executive Director states that the “key findings developed by the [Lead and Cadmium] Working Group show that there is a significant international dimension of the risks to human health and the environment arising from the release of lead and cadmium into the environment. . . .”75

59. The toxicity and eco-toxicity of lead and cadmium, and their routes of exposure, have been extensively studied and described by national governments and international bodies. Lead and cadmium can cause severe acute and chronic health and environmental effects, including reproductive effects. Pregnant women, fetuses, and children are among the most vulnerable populations. Chronic lead neurotoxicity is particularly severe for children, and can result in damage to the brain and nervous system and lifelong behavioral, developmental, and learning problems. Maternal exposure to cadmium is associated with low birth weight and an increase of spontaneous abortion.

60. The health harms resulting from exposure to lead, particularly long-term neurological and developmental impacts on children, may cause significant economic losses for society, especially in developing countries and transition economies where exposure is often the highest. Health harms resulting from exposure to lead and cadmium diminish labor potential and productivity, exacerbating poverty and impairing economic development. Examples abound: Chinese workers producing cadmium batteries are routinely sickened. Over 99% of the children who live next to the metal smelting facility in the Peruvian city of La Oroya suffered from lead poisoning, causing lifelong developmental and neurological problems. The improper recycling of e-waste has led to high blood levels of lead in half the children of Bangalore, resulting in lowered IQs and diminished abilities.

61. Mining and refining of lead and cadmium and the industrial and manufacturing processes that use lead and cadmium generate employment and revenues. For example, approximately 80,000 people are employed in lead mining worldwide. Nevertheless, the enormous social and environmental costs of exposure, which are borne largely by the poorest and most vulnerable sectors of society⎯laborers, waste recyclers, children, pregnant women, and the malnourished⎯are incalculable. Moreover, many of the jobs that result in the highest exposures pay the least. Electronic waste recyclers in India and elsewhere, for example, earn less than one dollar per day.

75 UNEP. Governing Council of the United Nations Environment Program. Interim reviews of scientific information on lead and cadmium: Note by the Executive Director, UNEP/GC/24/INF/16. Nairobi. (December 2, 2006).

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62. Substitutes or safe alternatives are available that can reduce the flow of lead and cadmium throughout international commerce and the environment. Alternatives to lead are available for a wide range of applications, from gasoline additives and lead shot to cable sheathing and pigments.76 Similarly, alternatives to cadmium have been introduced for cadmium applications including NiCd batteries, plating alloys for solders and other alloys, PVC stabilizers, and pigments.77

4.2. Do Trade-Related Actions Increase the Risk of Harm from Lead and Cadmium?

63. The trade flows of lead and cadmium and products and wastes containing them are complex and cannot be placed on a clear North-South axis. For example, Peru is a major exporter of lead concentrates and ores to China, while China is a major exporter of refined lead to other east-Asian countries. Generally speaking, the production and use of these metals is decreasing in OECD countries and increasing in Asia and some other parts of the developing world. Especially in rapidly industrializing countries with export- driven economies, a large amount of the environmental health risk from production and use of lead and cadmium may be traced to overseas demand for processed materials and manufactured products. That demand is driven significantly by consumer preference for inexpensive products. One of the factors explaining why such products are comparatively inexpensive is the fact that some or many of the stages of their manufacture are undertaken with few, if any, environmental health safeguards. Thus, in the cases of lead and cadmium, consumers’ preference for inexpensive imports results in much of the environmental health risks associated with the imported products being externalized to the exporting country.

64. Not all of the environmental health risks, however, are externalized away from consumers. The same lax safeguards that result in low prices for consumers may bring increased risks of contamination, especially lead contamination, in the finished products, which contribute to higher releases of these metals throughout the products’ lifecycles, including when they are disposed of. Because consumers of these products are not only in developed, but also in developing, countries and economies in transition , where environmentally sound management of wastes may be ineffective or nonexistent, these imported products may have a significant, negative impact on environmental health in developing countries and economies in transition.

65. In contrast to consumer products that use or contain lead and cadmium, international trade of e-waste (including “used” electronics that effectively are e-waste) overwhelmingly flows from developed to developing countries and economies in

76 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Lead, p. 24 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Lead_review_Interim- Oct2006.pdf. 77 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 22 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf.

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transition. The devastating environmental health impacts to trash pickers, recyclers, their families and communities are increasingly well-documented and foreseeable. The export of these materials from North to South occurs because it is cheaper for people and companies in rich countries to export, rather than bear the costs of environmentally sound disposal at home.

66. Large numbers of people in developing countries depend on all of these activities for their livelihoods. For many of the most polluting and dangerous activities, such as e- waste recycling, the most dependent people are generally the poorest and least-able to cope with the health impacts of lead, cadmium, and other toxics. While a cost-benefit analysis that fully accounted for the environmental health impacts might demonstrate that the international trade that makes their livelihoods possible leaves them worse off, they may have no other readily apparent survival options, or they may have little awareness of the risks to which they and their families are exposed.

67. On a broader economic scale, the key strategy for poverty alleviation in many developing countries is to rapidly expand their manufacturing sector for low-cost goods for export. Heavy environmental pollution is often accepted as an unavoidable cost of economic growth. However, as the pollution from lead, cadmium, and other toxics intensifies and public awareness of the high environmental health costs increases, citizens may become less willing to accept those costs.

4.3. Do Countries Have Difficulty Protecting Themselves Unilaterally?

68. Existing multilateral agreements such as the Basel and Rotterdam Conventions and the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) reflect the understanding that where international trade is among the primary factors giving rise to a health or environmental risk, unilateral action is unlikely to be either an effective or sufficient approach for dealing with that risk. For lead and cadmium, international trade is a driver of mining and refining activities that give rise to increased occupational, public health, and environmental risks, particularly in developing countries. International trade is also a major factor in increased risks of exposure to products and wastes containing these metals.

69. Experience shows that industrialized countries with significant chemicals management capacity have been unable to protect themselves effectively from the increased risks presented by the international trade in products containing lead and cadmium. Public health officials in the United States have not been able to screen imported children’s products effectively for lead content. Similarly, because NiCd battery collection and recycling programs in the United States and Denmark are only partly effective, a significant portion of these batteries are still disposed of as municipal solid waste, which greatly increases the risk of lead and cadmium leaching into water and soils.

70. The limited capacity and capability for sound chemicals management including gaps in national legislation and environmental standards commonly found in developing countries and countries with economies in transition makes it even more difficult, or

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impossible, for these countries to protect themselves from the increased risk of harm resulting from international trade in lead and cadmium throughout their lifecycles. Addressing the “widening gap” in capacity is a recognized and important function of all the agreements in the chemicals and waste cluster. The recent dumping of enormous quantities of hazardous waste in Côte d’Ivoire is a tragic reminder that developing countries seldom possess the capacity to control the transport of hazardous substances across their borders.

71. This lack of capacity is also reflected in the fact that many developing countries reported to the UNEP interim scientific reviews that they have few or no regulatory programs for lead and cadmium. India, for example, does not have any enforceable standard for the total content of lead, cadmium, and other toxic metals in toys. In Peru, air levels of lead in areas near a large metal smelter remain four to seven times higher than permitted under applicable standards.

72. The hurdles can be high for developing countries to obtain bilateral development assistance to address their capacity needs for sound chemicals management, including capacity needs related to lead and cadmium. Officials from some donor States frequently (and accurately) observe that such official development assistance (ODA) might be available if developing countries would only include it as a priority in their national development strategies and requests. However, poverty alleviation is the most pressing need in most developing countries, and environmental health issues are often not viewed as being among the highest priorities. Thus, chemicals managers in these countries rarely have the political clout to place sound chemicals management on their national government’s development assistance agendas. In contrast, the receipt of multilateral assistance through, for example, the financial mechanisms of environmental conventions, is not contingent on such prioritized requests. Chemicals managers in developing countries therefore may have far greater success through multilateral, as opposed to bilateral, channels in obtaining financial assistance to support sound chemicals management capacity, including capacity to address risks from exposure to lead and cadmium.

73. The production and consumption of lead and cadmium ore, metals, compounds, and products containing lead and cadmium are a global enterprise, in which trade flows crisscross the planet and each of the many steps in the lifecycle of a product is often conducted in a different country. The UNEP interim scientific reviews of lead and cadmium recognize that “substance flows as a consequence of trade and waste disposal, mainly in developing and transition countries, are major causes of human exposure.”78 This suggests that preventive measures to control trade flows of lead and cadmium could not only be effective, but also be among the most efficient, because measures that prevent

78 UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Lead, p. 164 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Lead_review_Interim- Oct2006.pdf; UNEP Chemicals, Interim Review of Scientific Information on Cadmium, p. 149 (October 2006), available at http://www.unepchemicals.ch/pb_and_cd/SR/Files/Interim_reviews/UNEP_Cadmium_review_Interim_Oct 2006.pdf.

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environmental health harms from happening are usually far less expensive than the costs of dealing with the harm after it has occurred.

74. Numerous multilateral environmental agreements, including the Basel and Rotterdam Conventions, CITES, the Montreal Protocol, and the Cartagena Protocol to the Convention on Biological Diversity, are based on the understanding that controlling trade flows of hazardous substances or activities can be among the most effective approaches to preventing, reducing, or mitigating threats to environmental health. These agreements recognize that it is the international trade itself (in hazardous chemicals and waste, endangered wildlife, or living modified organisms) that results in or is a primary cause of the health or environment harms, and that these harms can only be effectively addressed via a coordinated international approach.

75. Moreover, in the absence of a multilateral approach controlling trade in lead and cadmium metals, products, and wastes, States may be concerned that they could be vulnerable to challenges under international trade law if they take unilateral trade-related action. Conversely, World Trade Organization rulings suggest that trade-related environmental and health measures taken by States pursuant to multilateral efforts would not run afoul of WTO requirements. This is an important consideration, especially for developing countries and countries with economies in transition that may not have the resources to defend themselves against trade challenges and thus may be reluctant to take unilateral, trade-related regulatory measures, such as restrictions or bans on the import of products or wastes containing lead and cadmium.

76. The Basel Convention currently covers all types of wastes that contain lead and cadmium. Thus, Parties may not export such wastes to countries that have exercised their right to prohibit them, and they may not allow the export if they have reason to believe that the wastes will not be managed in an environmentally sound manner. The Convention also requires Parties to cooperate in developing technical guidelines to improve and achieve environmentally sound management of wastes.

77. In addition to the publication of guidance documents relevant to lead and cadmium waste, the Convention is developing programs to address the environmentally sound management of e-waste including, for example, an extended producer liability initiative in partnership with major cell phone manufacturers aimed at keeping discarded cells waste out of municipal waste streams. Parties have not though been able to agree on an approach to address the growing problem of trade in e-wastes that are traded under the guise of used products, which represent a significant portion of total international trade flows.

78. The Rotterdam Convention could address certain aspects of the challenges presented by lead and cadmium compounds, including their use in products, although Convention Parties have not yet decided to list the use of any chemical in products. A broad listing of lead and cadmium in the Convention could result in the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure applying to exports of most industrial uses of lead and cadmium in international trade, and exchange of information on the environmentally sound management of those uses. However, it should be noted that COP decisions to add

23 DDDrrraaafffttt 222222---FFFeeebbb---000888111999---FFFeeebbb---000888222444---JJJaaannn---000888 chemical listings to the Convention may only be taken by consensus and do not automatically follow a recommendation from the Convention’s Chemical Review Committee. Accordingly, it could be very difficult to achieve a broad listing of lead or cadmium. Additionally, developing countries with limited institutional capacity to monitor and enforce PIC export notifications may not be able to fully address lead and cadmium risks through this approach.

79. The Rotterdam Convention applies to international trade in listed chemicals among Parties, for the use category specified in the listing. It does not directly restrict or prevent such trade, other than to the extent that exporting countries may allow trade in listed chemicals only if an importing country has provided its prior informed consent. Nevertheless, appearance on the PIC list tends, to varying degrees, to discourage trade in the listed chemical. Moreover, receipt of the PIC notification and the information that must precede or accompany international shipments of listed chemicals may facilitate improved management of the chemical in the importing country.

80. While the Basel Convention provides a legal framework to deal with the full range of issues related to lead and cadmium wastes, no existing agreement offers a comprehensive framework to prevent, reduce, or minimize the risk of harm from exposure to lead and cadmium throughout their lifecycles. Moreover, neither the Basel nor the Rotterdam Conventions includes a mandatory financial mechanism for assisting developing countries and countries with economies in transition to secure needed financial resources for implementation of their treaty commitments.

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[References]

[REFERENCE]

Per M. Bakken, Head UNEP Chemicals Branch, DTIE

Dear Dr. Stober and Dr. Luxem,

Please see a message from Per Bakken, Head, UNEP Chemicals Branch below. Thank you. Yours sincerely, Leila Younossi, Senior Secretary for Per M. Bakken, Head UNEP Chemicals Branch, DTIE Geneva Tel: 004122 917 81 83 Fax: 004122 797 34 60

Subject: IFCS WG Pb& Cd -darft Forum VI Session document

Dear Judy and Monika,

Thank you very much for the opportunity of commenting on the initial full draft of the meeting paper for the session at Forum VI on Lead and Cadmium: need for international action?

With this regard, we acknowledge the good work carried out by CIEL on behalf of the Government of Germany (Lead sponsor) and the numerous bibliographic references taken from UNEP Chemicals Interim reviews of scientific information on lead and cadmium. As far as it stands now, we don't have any specific and/or detailed comments with regard to this document.

We have also taken notice of the relevant time schedule for Forum VI preparations, therefore, we will be happy to participate accordingly and provide further progress on our lead and cadmium activities based on our mandate from Governing Council.

Best regard,

Per Bakken

Abhay Kumar , Toxics Links

From: Abhay [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 14 February 2008 08:02 To: Stober, Judy A. Cc: AGARWAL Ravi S.; ALO Babajide; BARY Abdouraman; CASTILLO Alberto; CHOI Kyung-Hee; CIRAJ Marta, Slovenia, CEE; CONTI Marcelo; DE KOM Jules F.M.; DE KOM Jules F.M.; EURIPIDOU Rico; FALVO Cathey; GAVILAN Arturo; HAGEMANN Sven; JAYAKUMAR C; KARLAGANIS Georg; KHWAJA Mahmood; KHWAJA Mahmood; LUXEM Monika; Lynch-Keep, Pauline; MAURER Jean- Louise; MENARD Anja; MUSENGA Michael; OLANIPEKUN Abiola; OLIVEIRA Sergia; PADUNGTOD Chantana; PAVITRANON Sumol; POKHAGUL Pattreya; Pronczuk, Jenny; ROSENTHAL Erika; SAOKE Paul; SPERANSKAYA Olga; SRIPAUNG Nalinee; SYLLA Ndiaye; SYLLA Ndiaye; WHITELAW John; WILSON David; WISER Glenn; Yamadori, Emi; ZASTENSKAYA Irina Subject: Re: FW: IFCS WG Pb and Cd - draft Forum VI session document

I was travelling in last few weeks. My apologies for sending my comments on draft late.

I have three points to make.

An important commodity in international trade has been left out. And that is paints. Most importantly it is the use of high lead containing paints on products such as toys, which make them toxic. Mattel's recall of toys of worth millions of dollars was primarily due to the use of paints containing high concentration of lead. And hence paints and its trades must also be looked into. Most of the developing countries do not have any mandatory standard for lead in paints. An international bar on lead limits in paints may be a driver for the change in these countries. Another interesting factor in the paints trade is the fact that the same MNC has different concentration of lead in paints in different countries depending upon standards. (Clark, C.S., K.G. Rampal, V Thuppil, C.K. Chen, R Clark, S. Roda., 2006. The lead content of currently available new residential paint in several Asian countries. Environmental Research. 102, 9-12).

It is a good suggestion to have a parallel provision to WTO controls to regulate trade of Pb and Cd containing products. However, it's a double-edged sword as developed countries may still use these provisions to browbeat the developing countries and hence a mechanism may be suggested to prevent it from happening.

Use of untreated wastewater for irrigation is also one of the ways through which Pb or Cd can enter into food chain. In developing countries lack of resources to treat their wastewater (both municipal and industrial) make it worse. This issue may be mentioned in 2.1 ( www.pollutionandfood.net or www.toxicslink.org)

Thanks. With best regards, Abhay

From: Sumol Pavitranon, Thailand

-----Original Message----- From: Sumol Pavitranon [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 20 February 2008 07:45 To: AGARWAL Ravi S.; ALO Babajide; BARY Abdouraman; CASTILLO Alberto; CHOI Kyung-Hee; CIRAJ Marta, Slovenia, CEE; CONTI Marcelo; DE KOM Jules F.M.; DE KOM Jules F.M.; EURIPIDOU Rico; FALVO Cathey; GAVILAN Arturo; HAGEMANN Sven; JAYAKUMAR C ; KARLAGANIS Georg; KHWAJA Mahmood; KHWAJA Mahmood ; KUMAR Abhay; LUXEM Monika; Lynch-Keep, Pauline; MAURER Jean-Louise; MENARD Anja ; MUSENGA Michael; OLANIPEKUN Abiola; OLIVEIRA Sergia; PADUNGTOD Chantana; PAVITRANON Sumol; POKHAGUL Pattreya; Pronczuk, Jenny; ROSENTHAL Erika; SAOKE Paul; SPERANSKAYA Olga; SRIPAUNG Nalinee; Stober, Judy A.; SYLLA Ndiaye; SYLLA Ndiaye; WHITELAW John; WILSON David; WISER Glenn; Yamadori, Emi; ZASTENSKAYA Irina; Stober, Judy A. Subject: Re: FW: WG Teleconference 18 February 2008 12h00 GMT

Dear All,

I am sorry that Thai line waas not even good for connected. I may be at the place that had bad conection.

I was going to add a point that for Lead and Cadmium , I wouldReference level for Toxicity in biospecimen ie bblood, urine.

Sumol Pavittranon ÊØÁÅ »ÇÔµÃÒ¹¹·ì

Sumol Pavittranon, Ph. D Risk Assessment Office Dept of Medical Sciences, Ministry of Public Health Bangkok, Thailand.

Comments of the International Cadmium Association

“Lead and Cadmium: Need for International Action?” Draft of 28 January 2008 Prepared by The Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL)

Page 1, Title – The title of the report and, indeed, the title of the previous IFCS sessions and program on heavy metals appears to presuppose a conclusion. A more objective and neutral title to both the report would be desirable.

Page 1, Paragraph 1 – Although this paragraph does mention the ongoing UNEP work on lead and cadmium, it does not mention the extensive work that has been conducted for the last ten years by the UNECE under the Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP) Heavy Metals Protocol. The latter is far more advanced and has been ratified by numerous countries, whereas the UNEP program on lead and cadmium has only prepared two “Interim Scientific Reviews” which have been widely criticized as reflecting the views and data of a small set of nations. This paragraph also presupposes that it is the dispersal of lead and cadmium in products and through international trade that leads to major cadmium and lead exposure whereas it is well established that products are very minor sources of lead and cadmium emissions and exposure. In the case of cadmium, for example, exposure from products accounts for roughly 5% of total cadmium exposure (according to the European Union’s Risk Assessments on Cadmium Metal and Cadmium Oxide) whereas other sources such as fertilizers, fossil fuel combustion, iron and steel production, cement production and natural sources account for far greater proportions. The view that cadmium and lead-containing products alone are responsible for the majority of the world’s lead and cadmium exposure cannot be supported.

Page 2, Paragraph 3 – Having been heavily involved with the OECD Cadmium Risk Reduction Program all through the 1990s, it is disappointing to note that none of the conclusions, workshops, conferences or proceedings is mentioned. OECD conducted Cadmium Risk Reduction conferences in 1992 in Bordeaux, France; 1995 in Saltsjobadan, Sweden; 1997 in Lyon, France; and 1998 in Mexico City, Mexico. Proceedings were published from all of those conferences, and a Cadmium Risk Reduction Monograph published by OECD in 1994. The thrust of the entire OECD Cadmium Risk Reduction Program, in fact, evolved into an effort to reduce cadmium exposure and risk by the collection and recycling of the principal cadmium-containing product, nickel-cadmium batteries, and not by banning them which seems to be the only risk management approach considered by some countries. Yet the collection and recycling effort by industry in Japan, North America and Europe is disregarded in the discussion of paragraph 3.

It must also be noted that questions regarding international trade in products are under the jurisdiction of the World Trade Organization (WTO) which has very specific guidelines about the interaction of world trade and environmental effects and the extent to which trade may be regulated on the basis of assumed environmental effects. Likewise, international trade in waste products is within the jurisdiction of the Basel Convention which has been addressing these questions for at least 15 years. It appears singularly inappropriate for the IFCS, which has expertise in neither of these areas, to be attempting to address these questions.

On the question of whether or not a chemical “poses a significant risk”, these questions have been answered by the Risk Assessments conducted, for example, by the European Union on Cadmium and Cadmium Oxide with Belgium acting as the lead country or Rapporteur. Documents have also been produced by the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR) in the United States, by the World Health Organization (WHO), and many other authoritative international and national groups. These assessments do not reach a consensus that cadmium poses a significant risk nor that it results in problems of a shared, transboundary or global nature. Indeed the conclusions of both the OECD and UNECE LRTAP programs appear to be that cadmium does not.

Page 2, Paragraph 4 – The latest scientific thinking on metals is that, unlike organic compounds, criteria such as persistence and bioaccumulation, are not relevant measures of a basis for concern. All metallic elements, by definition, are persistent. It is their degradation into soluble, ionic species and hence their bioavailability which is the issue of concern in determining whether or not they will have an adverse effect on human health or the environment. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has now recognized the unique characteristics of metals through the creation of their Framework for Metals Risk Assessment. We attach a copy of a presentation on this subject made by US EPA in April 2007 demonstrating that the terms persistent and bioaccumulative pertain perhaps to POPs but not to metals in determining their adverse effects. It should also be noted in this paragraph, as has been noted in many international meetings, discussions and fora that cadmium and lead behave distinctly differently to mercury. They should not be treated collectively as if they all have the same impact.

Page 2, Paragraph 5 – As stated above, there is no agreement among experts that these metals are toxic, bioaccumulative and persistent. There is universal scientific agreement now that the terms persistent and bioaccumulative are not appropriate metrics for establishing the degree of concern for metals. The term “toxic” is also a relative one and depends upon the concentration, the particle size, the solubility and bioavailability and a host of other factors which the scientific world has now clearly recognized. The

2 phraseology of this paragraph is perhaps five to ten years behind current scientific thought.

As also discussed previously the UNEP interim Scientific Reviews on Lead and Cadmium have been widely criticized, have not been peer reviewed, and were prepared largely utilizing limited data and viewpoints. These documents are widely quoted in the CIEL paper and yet they are not generally accepted, are considered incomplete, and have been protested by a number of nations participating in the UNEP Heavy Metals Program. Until they have been adopted as the agreed-upon, legitimate outcome of the UNEP program, all references to these documents in the CIEL paper should be removed. There are many other authoritative, well established, peer-reviewed and objective documents on both lead and cadmium which could well be used.

Page 3, Paragraphs 6-9 – It has been fairly well established through the UNECE LRTAP program that long range environmental transport of lead and cadmium is not an issue of great concern. Again there is a failure to recognize the jurisdiction of the World Trade Organization and the Basel Convention in these issues of international flow of products and wastes. In particular, the conclusion mentioned in paragraph 9 that “substance flows as a consequence of trade and waste disposal, mainly in developing and transition countries, are major causes of human exposure” is simply untrue, has not been agreed upon by all of those serving on the UNEP Heavy Metals Expert Group, and has been objected to by numerous nations and experts. It is not a UNEP-wide conclusion, and it should be removed.

Page 4, Paragraph 13 – The term “toxic at very low exposure levels” is both subjective and relative. It should be removed as misleading. A more objective statement might be something like “Cadmium has been found to produce adverse human health effects at relatively low concentrations, and most nations in the world control their occupational exposure levels in the range from 1 to 50µg/m3.” Such a statement would inform the reader with factual reference points.

Page 5, Paragraph 16 – When there are so many widely respected, peer reviewed, objective summaries of the human health and environmental effects of cadmium, it is inappropriate to utilize the UNEP Interim Review on Cadmium which has been widely disputed and has not been agreed upon by the UNEP Heavy Metals Expert Group. The main effect of cadmium has been established as renal dysfunction or impairment. Bone- related consequences may also occur from the renal impairment. The evidence for increased risk of lung cancer has diminished steadily in recent years now that confounding factors such as simultaneous exposure to known human carcinogens has been corrected for (many papers by Professor Thomas Sorahan of the University of Birmingham in the UK on this subject).

Page 5, Paragraph 17 – There are studies which in fact have shown that cadmium deficiencies at very low concentrations can produce adverse effects in plants, animals and micro-organisms, especially in the absence of naturally occurring levels of zinc. Once again, the criteria of persistence and bioaccumulation are irrelevant for metals.

3 Bioavailability and homeostatic regulation mechanisms in animals are important factors. The blanket statements made here are untrue and gross simplifications. The ability of cadmium to enter the human food chain is a very complex process and occurs to widely differing degrees in different animal and plant foods and depends upon many different environmental conditions such as soil type, acidity (pH) and many other factors. Once again, the UNEP Interim Review on Cadmium cannot be cited as an objective, finalized, agreed-upon, peer-reviewed document. There are many other sources far, far better. All references to the UNEP Interim Scientific Review on Cadmium should be removed.

Page 6, Paragraph 22 – This paragraph fails to note that the amount of secondary or recycled cadmium has been steadily increasing over the past ten years and that recycled cadmium is produced mainly in the United States, Japan and Europe, whereas primary cadmium is now produced mainly in Korea, China, Japan, Canada and Mexico. This paragraph seems to imply that the amount of primary cadmium has remained steady and has just shifted from Europe to Asia. The truth is that the amount of primary cadmium produced has been decreasing steadily, especially in Europe where there are only two or three primary producers remaining.

Page 6, Paragraph 23 – Total global cadmium consumption has been steady to slightly decreasing over the last ten years. The applications end-use pattern for cadmium shifted sharply from electroplating of coatings to nickel-cadmium batteries beginning in 1980 and reaching a peak in 1995.

Page 7, Paragraph 24 – Cadmium is not a “common” component of electronic waste. The largest application in electrical and electronic equipment is for cadmium coatings on connectors and connector shells and connector shell housings. The total of all electronics usage for cadmium, including cadmium telluride photovoltaic or solar cells and silver- cadmium oxide electrical contact alloys is less than 0.5% of total cadmium consumption. Chip resistors, infrared detectors and semiconductors, to the extent that they do exist, are a miniscule fraction of total cadmium usage, and moreover are based mainly on the highly insoluble cadmium sulfide compound which is virtually non-bioavailable. The growth for cadmium is possible in applications such as nickel-cadmium batteries. However, nickel-cadmium batteries are rapidly being supplanted in the world marketplace by battery chemistries such as lithium-ion and lithium-polymer. The worldwide NiCd market is flat at best while Li-ion is growing rapidly.

Page 7, Paragraph 25 – The statements made in the UNEP Interim Scientific Review are not the consensus of the UNEP Heavy Metals Expert Group. It has been well established that fertilizers and fossil fuel combustion are far, far greater sources of human cadmium exposure than all cadmium-containing products combined, yet these sources are ignored in this report.

Page 7, Paragraph 26 – As stated previously, primary production of cadmium as a by- product of zinc mining and refining is decreasing (approximately 25% in the past ten years), not increasing or continuing. It has not necessarily been shifting from the well developed to the less developed nations. Japan, Canada and Mexico have long been

4 major producers of primary cadmium. What is new is that Korean and Chinese production have increased as European production has all but left the world market. The existing facilities in Korea are amongst the world’s best and most well-controlled. Some in China are as advanced as those of the Western World, but some are not. There is virtually no cadmium production in Africa and very little in South America.

Page 8, Paragraph 27 – The level in Asia only appears so high because the primary production level in Europe is so low. As previously stated, Korea and Mexico have excellent primary cadmium production facilities. China is the main producer of portable NiCd batteries because of very favorable labor and overhead costs compared to battery producers in the Western World and Japan. Soils contaminated with cadmium are not a major problem in many Asian countries. Historically, such soil cadmium contamination was a problem in Japan back in the 1960s, and has been in two locations in Asia within the past 5 years, in Thailand near a zinc-cadmium smelter and in China at a NiCd battery factory and a zinc-cadmium smelter. The statement that “more than ten percent of China’s arable land is contaminated with cadmium” has not been established by any reputable authority.

Page 8, Paragraph 29 – The UNEP Interim Scientific Review on Cadmium cannot be cited as a reliable reference. For example, here they make it seem as if the United States and Denmark are the only countries which have NiCd battery collection and recycling programs whereas there are dozens of countries in the Americas, Europe and Asia which do. The report also states that “a significant part of the batteries will be disposed of with municipal solid waste.” While this statement may be true for the non-rechargeable alkaline-manganese, zinc-manganese or carbon-zinc primary batteries, it is completely untrue for the rechargeable batteries which contain lead and cadmium. The recycling rates, depending on how they are measured, for lead acid and nickel cadmium batteries are quite high, ranging from 40% to virtually 100%. A differentiation should be noted between primary batteries which are thrown in the trash and secondary batteries (those containing lead or cadmium) which are recycled extensively.

Page 9, Paragraph 31 – Cadmium compounds are not used as pigments or stabilizers in children’s toys. Cadmium laurates, stearates and carboxylates are no longer used to stabilize polyvinylchloride (PVC). They have been replaced with zinc, barium and calcium compounds which are just as effective and no more expensive. Cadmium pigments are not required to color the plastics used for children’s toys. Typically cadmium pigments are only employed in engineering plastics, glasses, ceramics and enamels which must stand up to high temperatures or high stress for long periods of time. Since cadmium pigments are more expensive than organic or other red, orange, and yellow inorganic pigments, it would be totally cost ineffective to utilize cadmium pigments in children’s toys where they are not required. If incidental levels of cadmium are found in some of these plastics, then they are a result of poor standards being enforced on the plastic itself or some other additive and not on the deliberate addition of a cadmium compound to pigment or stabilize a plastic toy. Again these erroneous statements appear to be largely based on the UNEP Interim Scientific Review on Cadmium which is not agreed upon by the UNEP Heavy Metals Expert Group.

Page 9, Paragraph 32 – As noted previously, the amounts of cadmium contained in electronic waste are relatively small, especially compared to other sources of cadmium emissions and exposure. Objection is also made to the citation of the IIEB Draft Working Paper (reference 50). Any interim reports or draft papers must be considered the opinions of the authors and not agreed-upon conclusions.

Page 9, Paragraph 33 – Objection again to the UNEP Interim Scientific Review. Note that reference 53 is the UNEP Interim Scientific Review on Lead and yet the sentence states a generalized, speculative, non-specific conclusion regarding cadmium.

Page 10, Paragraph 37 – The history of the Rotterdam Convention and the materials included in the PIC procedure shows that cadmium compounds have been proposed before but have never been included in Annex III because of a lack of agreement by all Parties of the need to include them. They are not there because no agreement could be reached that they needed to be there.

Page 12, Paragraph 41 –The report presents only the view that product management measures (substitution) can be successful and completely fails to mention the views of industry and many nations which emphasize risk assessment and management by techniques such as occupational exposure control, emissions controls, and collection and recycling efforts. Imported products can be collected and recycled just as easily and effectively as those produced domestically, and in fact are.

LEAD & CADMIUM : NEED FOR INTERNATIONAL ACTION ?

Comments of the International Lead Association on behalf of the global lead producing industry

The International Lead Association is pleased to provide comments related to the reference document Lead and Cadmium: Need for International Action?

A primary concern is extensive reliance upon the October 2006 draft of the United Nations Environment Program document “Review of Scientific Information on Lead”. This document is still in the drafting stages and has been deemed to be in need of significant revision by the UNEP Governing Council. In its present form, the UNEP review has been judged to have inadequate data to support the preliminary conclusions presented in the document. The contents of the document are problematic in a number of areas that include, but are not limited to, such topics as:

• The discussion of the health effects of lead and their potential societal implications for the general population

• A failure to recognize that classification criteria for persistent, bioaccumlative and toxic chemicals are not applicable to metals such as lead

• The environmental impact related to the disposal of lead-containing wastes in municipal landfills or incineration practices, and

• Recognition of the data gaps related to the international transport of lead and reliance upon out-dated data.

The reference document also fails to provide adequate documentations for the conclusions reached in Section 4.2 dealing with the question of whether trade-related actions increase the risk of harm from lead and cadmium. Unless some definitive references can be provided to substantiate these conclusions, then they must be regarded as speculative or simply the opinion of the authors of the document. During the course of the UNEP discussions, it emerged that significant efforts were ongoing within UNEP and elsewhere to address waste disposal issues encountered by developing countries.

In regard to the section that addresses the question of whether countries have difficulty protecting themselves unilaterally, we would propose that the reference document also note the World Bank Group Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines published in April 2007. These consist of general guidelines that address performance levels and measures related to Environmental, Occupational Health and Safety, Community Health and Safety and Construction and Decommissioning as well as industry-specific guidelines including ones for Base Metal Smelting and Refining. Given that the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank Group will adhere to these guidelines for IFC-financed programs in developing countries, it would seem appropriate that they be referenced in any future revisions of the document. A copy of the general EHS guidelines is available at: http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/Content/EnvironmentalGuidelines.

The EHS guidelines for Base Metal Smelting and Refining can be downloaded at http://www.ifc.org/ifcext/enviro.nsf/AttachmentsByTitle/gui_EHSGuidelines2007_Smeltinga ndRefining/$FILE/Final+-+Smelting+and+Refining.pdf.

The document also lacks references to non-governmental groups that have established programs to provide technical assistance to International Agencies, Governments and Companies in the Lead Industry Sector which are interested in assessing and reducing the risk of lead exposure. One such organization is the International Lead Management Center which for over a decade has demonstrated that lead exposure risks can be managed through the introduction of specific Environmentally Sound Management (ESM) procedures tailored to the distinct lead exposure issues unique to each country’s cultural, technical, geographic and socio-economic circumstances.

The ILMC offers a number of publications containing consensus health materials and detailed lead risk information for the lead mining, refining, manufacturing and recycling sectors. Many of these publications address the data needs outlined in this chapter. They include: ILMC Ceramics Handbook ILMC Ceramics Primer for the non-Ceramicist ILMC Fact Sheets: Risk Management Processes Lead Risk Management at a Lead Recycling Facility ILMC Guidance Documents: Sound Management of Solid Waste in the Lead Industry Control and Monitoring of Atmospheric Emissions Control and Monitoring of Liquid Effluent Design of Lead Plant Changing Rooms and Washing Facilities Effective Communication and Public Relations Voluntary Agreements – The ILMC Experience The Various Types of Lead Acid Battery and the Importance of Recycling Battery Design for Cleaner Production Control Strategies and Policies for Recycling ULAB in the “informal” Sector Establishing a Community Care and Outreach Program Strategies for the Remediation of Lead Contaminated Soil Health Issues for Lead Workers and the General Public.

All of these publications are available on the ILMC web site at http://www.ilmc.org. along with other reports on workshops and pilot programs that they have conducted throughout the world.

Specific comments regarding the document include the following:

Paragraph 3: The OECD discussions are mischaracterized. After a number of years of consideration, they resulted in a Ministerial Declaration that called for assistance programs tailored to the needs and circumstances of individual countries. The aforementioned International Lead Management Center was formed at the request of OECD specifically for the purpose of making industry expertise available to the developing world.

Paragraph 5: There is general consensus in the scientific community that persistence and bioaccumulation are not criteria that can be applied in the evaluation of metals.

Paragraph 14: A long list of health effects resulting from lead exposure is presented – with the implication that all occur at very low exposure levels. Neurological effects (more specifically subtle IQ decrements in the developing child) are the primary effects of concern for low level exposure.

Paragraph 15: Although lead can be toxic in the environment, the effects noted are high dose effects rarely achieved except in highly unusual and localized situations. Moreover, lead does not “bioaccumulate” in the fashion that some inorganic chemicals (e.g. pesticides) will. The problems of applying criteria for persistence and bioaccumulation to metals have been extensively discussed within the context of Pellston Workshops convened by the Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry (see Adams and Chapman, eds. Assessing the Hazard of Metals and Inorganic Metal Substances in Aquatic and Terrestrial Ecosystems, CRC Press, Boca Raton, 2006) and are implicit in the United States Environmental Protection Agency’s new Framework for Metals Risk Assessment.

Paragraph 21: There is certainly significant international trade in electronic waste, but it should be noted that the quantities of lead and cadmium contained will decrease significantly over time as a result of restrictions on their use in electrical and electronic equipment imposed by many jurisdictions (eg European Union, USA, Japan, China). Most manufacturers now avoid the use of lead and cadmium.

Paragraph 26: The rationale for making repeated reference to the Doe Run La Oroya facility in this fashion is unclear. This was in fact a government owned and operated facility for many decades. Rapid improvements in environmental performance have been occurring since the acquisition of the facility by Doe Run and many expect that one day the facility will serve as a model for how improvements can be made within developing countries.

Paragraphs 29 – 31: Problems with imported products are hardly specific to lead or cadmium and it is not clear what this section contributes to the document. Enforcement issues emerge sporadically for a myriad of toxic substances, be it lead in toys, melamine in pet foods or ethylene glycol in tooth paste.

Countries such as the United States, which have experienced imports from China of children’s toys containing lead, already have product standards in place which prohibit such improper use of lead. As stated in this paragraph, officials have not been able to screen imported products effectively for the presence of lead. Since the products in question are already illegal, additional legislation at the international level would be unlikely to result in a different outcome.

Paragraphs 32 – 33: Referencing in this section is largely anecdotal and inappropriate given the importance of the issue under discussion. The fact that the Basel Secretariat has been addressing such issues is mentioned later (para. 39) and some reference to this work should be included here. At present the reader is given the impression that little is being done when in fact UNEP, UNCTAD, UNDP and the World Bank have all been implementing programs to address the issues described.

Paragraph 39: The Secretariat of the Basel Convention has been actively involved in the promotion of environmentally sound management of used lead acid batteries in developing countries since 2002 and has published a number of documents which would also merit reference, including:

• A comprehensive Technical Guide for Used Lead Acid Battery Recovery, http://www.base.int/pub/techguid/tech-wasteacid.pdf

• Model framework documents for developing strategies on National and Regional levels for ULAB recovery in Central America and the Caribbean. http://www.basel.int/centers/proj_activ/stp_projects/02-03e.doc

http://www.basel.int/centers/proj_activ/stp_projects/02-02.doc

• Work on used lead acid battery recovery and the development of national inventories and action plans have also been conducted in Cambodia –

http://www.basel.int/centers/proj_activ/stp_projects/03-04.pdf and http://www.basel.int/centers/proj_activ/stp_projects/03-01.doc

The Technical Guidelines and the Training Manual have been used in the development of the environmentally sound management of used lead acid batteries in Central America, the Caribbean, Cambodia, Colombia and Venezuela.

Paragraph 40: There is mention here of the Basel e-wastes programmes, but these do not target lead specifically, whereas the used lead acid batteries recovery programmes do and they are not mentioned. It is difficult to include information that is not published, but because used lead acid batteries have been deemed a priority waste stream by the Conference of the Parties, the Basel Secretariat is actively seeking to extend its used lead acid batteries recovery projects to the Far East and Africa. (See: COP VIII – Nairobi, 27 November – 1 December 2006 – UNEP/CHW.8/2Add.1 – Strategic Plan for the Implementation of the Basel Convention to 2010: report on project activities http://www.basel.int/meetings/cop/cop8/docs/02a1e.pdf ).

Paragraph 57: As noted by previous comments, action is being taken to address the risks identified.

Paragraph 58: The factual basis for the assertion that “there is a significant international dimension of the risks to human health and the environment arising from the release of lead and cadmium” appears to consist of a Note by the UNEP Executive Director and contradicts the data currently in the Working Group reports which indicates that long-range transport is minimal.

Paragraphs 59 – 67: Since this issue has been so extensively studied, adequate references should be provided and estimates given of the severity of the exposures and number of individuals potentially affected. Issues such as these must also be framed in much greater detail within the context of the socio-economic conditions that are conducive to inappropriate handling of “wastes” – informal sector activities that are responsible for many undesirable exposure scenarios are driven by economic necessity. Such issues are well known and described by others (e.g. see Jha and Hoffmann, eds. Achieving Objectives of Multilateral Environmental Agreements: A Package of Trade Measures and Positive Measures, United Nations Publications, Geneva, 2000). As it presently stands, this section largely consists of emotive unreferenced statements.

Paragraph 69: Mention is made here and elsewhere of landfill disposal and statements are made that metal leachates result in groundwater contamination. Documentation of this is needed. At least for modern landfills, the metal content of leachates generally meets drinking water standards and would not pose a risk to human health or the environment via groundwater contamination.

We thank you for the opportunity to comment on what we consider a well written document and for your careful consideration of the comments provided above.

From: Mahmood A. Khwaja, SDPI

-----Original Message----- From: Mahmood A. Khwaja [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 20 February 2008 08:22 To: Stober, Judy A. Subject: Re: WG Teleconference 18 February 2008 12h00 GMT Importance: High

PLEASE RE-SENDING .... earlier e-mail bounced back ... Mahmood

Dear Judy, During the subject conference, folowing are some of the suggestions for consideration I made for further improvement of an otherwise very well though off and well knitted paper "Lead and Cadmium: Need for International Action."

- Inclusion of some additional data (if available) on the trade (Section 2.2) of Lead & Cadmium , their compounds, wastes and products containing these metals to substantiate the magnitude of the problem, internationaly/globaly for convincing our target readers.. - More emphasis (in either of Sections 2.1 & 3.1)on "Exposure Pathways,""No Safe Exposure Limits" of these metals for children and the resulting adverse impacts on their learning, working & earning abilities throughout their lives. - Para 78: Do we need it (?) , if we have to negate the option of Rottardam Convention, after mentioning the same ... - Para 22, line 5 correct locus to "Focus" - Para 28, seems out place/misplaced in terms of relevance to preceding paragraphs. - Para 53, last 4 lines may be put as a new paragraph - lastly, reading of the paper leaves an impression that the problems/issues concerns mainly/mostly the developing countries (China all along) and my suggestion is that to convince international community about the global dimension of the Pb & Cd problem, the issues/concerns need to be put forward both for the developing countries, CET and developed countries. I hope the above the above is of some help/useful. Yes, most unfortunately, the line was not all that clear to benefit from the discussion and to make comments on suggestions by other fellow TC participants .... may be it would be of help if a paragraph or two to reflect the proceedings are circulated to feed back on the same. Best wishes & regards, as always

Dr. Mahmood A. Khwaja, FCSP Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Islamabad. Pakistan. www.sdpi.org

WHEN SOMEONE CRITICIZES OR DISAGREES WITH YOU, A SMALL ANT OF HATRED AND ANTAGONISM IS BORN IN YOUR HEART. IF YOU DO NOT SQUASH THAT ANT AT ONCE, IT MIGHT GROW INTO A SNAKE, OR EVEN A DRAGON

From: Mahmood A. Khwaja, SDPI

-----Original Message----- From: Mahmood A. Khwaja [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 21 February 2008 07:52 To: Stober, Judy A.; AGARWAL Ravi S.; ALO Babajide; BARY Abdouraman; CASTILLO Alberto; CHOI Kyung-Hee; CIRAJ Marta, Slovenia, CEE; CONTI Marcelo; DE KOM Jules F.M.; DE KOM Jules F.M.; EURIPIDOU Rico; FALVO Cathey; GAVILAN Arturo; HAGEMANN Sven; JAYAKUMAR C ; KARLAGANIS Georg; KHWAJA Mahmood; KUMAR Abhay; LUXEM Monika; Lynch-Keep, Pauline; MAURER Jean-Louise; MENARD Anja ; MUSENGA Michael; OLANIPEKUN Abiola; OLIVEIRA Sergia; PADUNGTOD Chantana; PAVITRANON Sumol; POKHAGUL Pattreya; Pronczuk, Jenny; ROSENTHAL Erika; SAOKE Paul; SPERANSKAYA Olga; SRIPAUNG Nalinee; SYLLA Ndiaye; SYLLA Ndiaye; WHITELAW John; WILSON David; WISER Glenn; Yamadori, Emi; ZASTENSKAYA Irina Cc: Stober, Judy A.; [email protected] Subject: Re: Forum VI Pb & Cd - input on draft paper from Mahmood Importance: High

Dear Judy, THANKS Please I do not support the change of title of the paper to keep both the focus & scope broad. The following publications may be of some help. 1. Environmental Health: Lead Exposure and its impacts on Children Mahmood A. Khwaja; SDPI Research & News Bulletin, 10(2), 2003 (Link below) http://sdpi.org/help/research_and_news_bulletin/bulletin_march_april.htm 2. Effect of Lead Exposure in Children (Full Paper attached) Mahmood A. Khwaja, Sci. Tech. & Development; 24(2) 2005 Best wishes Mahmood

Dr. Mahmood A. Khwaja, FCSP Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) Islamabad. Pakistan. www.sdpi.org

From: Michael Musenga, Zambia

From: michael musenga [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 21 February 2008 17:36 To: Stober, Judy A. Cc: Dingiswyo; monica Subject: Zambia Action to Minimize Heavy Metals (Lead and Cadmium) in Dairy Product, Fertilizer, Paints and Other Foods

Dear Judy, The attached is the proposal for consideration as discussed in the teleconference. I have been working with the Zambia Bureau of Standards. Best regards Michael

Zambia Action to Minimize Heavy Metals (Lead and Cadmium) in Dairy Product, Fertilizer, Paints and Other Foods

1.0 Introduction 1.1 Zambia Bureau of Standards is a statutory organisation under Ministry of Commerce Trade and Industry of the Government Republic of Zambia, established by an Act of Parliament (Standards Act Cap 416 of the Laws of Zambia). It is responsible for preparation and promulgation of Zambian Standards.

1.2 Zambia, through Zambia Bureau of Standards (ZABS) has endeavored to minimize heavy metal levels such as lead and cadmium in food products through development and implementation of national food standards. In these standards acceptable levels of heavy metals have been specified. In some cases, where issues of health concerns have to be addressed, national standards have been declared mandatory to ensure food safety with regard to, among other aspects, the effect of heavy metals contaminants like lead and cadmium. Zambia also endeavors to minimize exposure to heavy metals by issuance and enforcement of various regulations which include the Food and Drugs regulations under Food and Drugs Act Cap 303 of the Laws of Zambia.

1.3 Since the formation of Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) there have been initiatives to increase intra-COMESA trade. One of the initiatives has been to harmonise standards in various products that are intended to be traded among

Prepared by: Dingiswayo Shawa, Technical Secretary, COMESA Subcommittee on harmonization of Dairy Standards, Zambia Bureau of Standards, Zambia.

Michael Musenga, Forum Standing Committee Member, Zambia

member states to facilitate trade. Zambia has been involved in these harmonization programmes through Zambia Bureau of Standards since 2001. The harmonization process is done through Regional Technical Committee meetings at which consensus is reached as to what requirements, including heavy metal levels are acceptable in the region. One of the aspects that has been very important during the harmonization process has been to address the issues of food safety with respect to contaminants such as lead and cadmium.

1.4 Since December 2006, Zambia Bureau of Standards, has been coordinating the harmonization of standards in the dairy sector in COMESA. One of the most important issues during the standards harmonization process was building consensus among the stakeholders on levels acceptable at regional level which would ensure dairy products being traded among member states were safe with respect to heavy metal contamination such as lead and cadmium.

2.0 Actions to minimize Heavy Metal Contaminants (Lead and cadmium)

2.1 Dairy products

2.1.1 At national level, Zambian government, through Zambia Bureau of Standards was combining efforts with stakeholders to minimize heavy metal contamination in dairy products through the development of national dairy standards. The standards were voluntary in nature though they could be declared mandatory in cases where food safety concerns have to be addressed. Their 2

Prepared by: Dingiswayo Shawa, Technical Secretary, COMESA Subcommittee on harmonization of Dairy Standards, Zambia Bureau of Standards, Zambia.

Michael Musenga, Forum Standing Committee Member, Zambia

implementation mainly relies on sensitization of stakeholders. Standards implementation is supplemented by various regulations that were passed under various statutes like the Food and Drugs Act Cap 303 1 of the laws of Zambia. However, it has been realized that some Zambian Standards do not adequately address health concerns associated with heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. For instance the Zambian Standard for Pasteurized (ZS 337: 2007) and Sterilized milk (ZS 338:2007) does not explicitly specify acceptable levels of lead and cadmium. At the time these standards were published as national standards the harmonization of dairy standards in Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) was in progress which Zambia was coordinating through Zambia Bureau of Standards.

2.1.2 At a national consultative meeting, held prior to COMESA regional meeting in Lusaka, stakeholders agreed to specify acceptable heavy metal levels in the harmonized standards for milk considering that the harmonized standards were going to be used to facilitate dairy product movement across borders such that people were at risk should this products contain heavy metal contaminants such as lead and cadmium. The stakeholders agreed, among other requirements, to use the maximum acceptable levels of heavy metal contaminants established by Codex Alimentarius Commission, particularly specified in CAC STAN 193 - 1995.

2.1.3 A regional meeting under the auspice of COMESA was convened from 1st to 5th October 2007 in Lusaka, Zambia and was attended by 14 countries (Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, 3

Prepared by: Dingiswayo Shawa, Technical Secretary, COMESA Subcommittee on harmonization of Dairy Standards, Zambia Bureau of Standards, Zambia.

Michael Musenga, Forum Standing Committee Member, Zambia

Egypt, Ethiopia, Kenya, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritius, Rwanda, Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia and Zimbabwe and Other Organizations: Rates/Land ‘O’ Lakes, East And Southern Africa Dairy Association (ESADA), East African Community Secretariat (EAC), East, Central and Southern Africa Health Community Secretariat (ECSAHC), Zambia Dairy Processors Association (ZDPA), Zambia National Farmers Union (ZNFU)) from COMESA and EAC. The meeting harmonized eight dairy product standards and associated test methods. Due to growing health concerns of heavy metal exposure, the harmonization process took keen interest to harmonise the heavy metal levels in dairy products with emphasis to address not only the trade related issues but food safety concerns associated with these heavy metals. Therefore, the meeting agreed the maximum residue levels established by Codex Alimentarius Commission (CAC STAN 193 - 1995) to be acceptable in the dairy products trade in the region.

2.1.4 The harmonized standards were intended to be implemented across the region. This harmonization meant that once the harmonized standards were implemented in Zambia, the acceptable levels of lead would be reduced from the current 2.0 ppm as specified in Food and Drugs Act Cap 303 of the laws of Zambia, regulation 374, Part 1 of the Twenty-first schedule to 0.02 ppm total heavy metals including Cadmium and lead as specified in CAC STAN 193-1995. Zambia was in support of the reduction in the acceptable levels of heavy metals in the standards and considered to take further action to initiate the revision of the existing relevant legislation in line with the current health concerns.

Prepared by: Dingiswayo Shawa, Technical Secretary, COMESA Subcommittee on harmonization of Dairy Standards, Zambia Bureau of Standards, Zambia.

Michael Musenga, Forum Standing Committee Member, Zambia

2.1.5 The next national and regional initiative was to implement the harmonised standards at national level so as to uniformly address the food safety issues associated with heavy metals (cadmium and Lead) at the same time facilitating trade in COMESA and other countries

2.1.6 The COMESA regional meeting also accorded an opportunity for COMESA member states to be enlightened on efforts being undertaken at international level to minimise heavy metal exposure. Mr. Michael Musenga, a Public Prosecutor for Environmental Health in Zambia, highlighted a lot of issues as regards to the role the Intergovernmental Forum for Chemical Safety (IFCS) plays in putting chemical safety issues on national, regional and global agenda in order to protect the human health and the environment especially the adverse effect to children’s exposure to hazardous chemicals.

2.2 Drinking Water

Efforts to minimize heavy metal exposure through drinking water in Zambia have been made through development of standards (ZS 190:1990) that specify acceptable heavy metal levels and issuance of regulations for instance under Food and Drugs Act Cap 303 of the Laws of Zambia to enforce acceptable standards. In COMESA, in an effort to minimize the exposure to these heavy metals through products such as dairy ices where drinking water was an ingredient, Zambia further proposed the harmonization of quality and safety requirements of the drinking water that was used in the production of 5

Prepared by: Dingiswayo Shawa, Technical Secretary, COMESA Subcommittee on harmonization of Dairy Standards, Zambia Bureau of Standards, Zambia.

Michael Musenga, Forum Standing Committee Member, Zambia

some of these dairy products. It was expected that acceptable lead and cadmium levels of 0.05ppm and 0.005ppm respectively specified in ZS 190:1990 would be proposed to be applied in COMESA region.

2.3 Other Foods

Zambia has also been involved in the standards harmonization programmes in other food products besides dairy. More than 80 food specifications have been harmonized so far in COMESA. These include harmonized standards for maize grain (corn), rice, wheat flour, food grade salt, whole maize grain flour etc. In the harmonization of all these standards, focus has also been given to setting low levels of heavy metals in these standards in amounts which should not present a hazard to human health. Standards established by Codex Alimentarius Commission have been useful as they were recognized worldwide and have been used as the base documents for harmonization.

2.4 Fertilizers

Concerns have been raised by some Zambia stakeholders on the safety of long term use of phosphate based fertilizers with respect to heavy metals such as lead and cadmium. Production of these fertilizers uses raw materials that contain lead and cadmium. These heavy metals were likely to find themselves in plants posing a health hazard to humans. The existing Zambia standards for these products do not explicitly specify levels of heavy metals such as cadmium and lead. This has brought a lot of concerns and action was being taken 6

Prepared by: Dingiswayo Shawa, Technical Secretary, COMESA Subcommittee on harmonization of Dairy Standards, Zambia Bureau of Standards, Zambia.

Michael Musenga, Forum Standing Committee Member, Zambia

by Zambia Bureau of Standards and other relevant stakeholders to revise standards for phosphate based fertilizers and particularly specify the lead and cadmium levels to a level that will not pose hazard to human health. This action was also expected to contribute to addressing health concerns associated with these heavy metals when these products are traded between countries.

2.5 Paints Due to growing health concerns both at national and international level associated with lead and cadmium containing paints products, Zambia, besides other action, was contributing to reduction of lead and cadmium in these products by developing standards which as much as possible discourage the use of raw materials that contain heavy metals. Currently, Zambian Standards for paints do not specify acceptable level for heavy metal levels. In light of the growing concerns, Zambia Bureau of Standards was taking action to revise the existing standards so that levels of heavy metals such as cadmium and lead are kept to a level that will not cause harm to human health.

2.6 Phase out of leaded fuel Zambia Bureau of Standards has also been actively involved with other stakeholders to phase out leaded fuel by withdrawing the standard for leaded fuel (ZS 370:2000) and replacing it with lead replacement fuel standard (ZS 716: 2007). Soon leaded fuel may not be allowed to be used. This action will greatly reduce health risks associated with lead exposure.

3.0 Way forward 7

Prepared by: Dingiswayo Shawa, Technical Secretary, COMESA Subcommittee on harmonization of Dairy Standards, Zambia Bureau of Standards, Zambia.

Michael Musenga, Forum Standing Committee Member, Zambia

3.1 In order to initiate meaningful intervention into heavy metal exposures in food, there was need to develop an inventory of heavy metal presence or release in the country, identification of population at risk, communication/outreach to populations at risk and devise approaches to reduce heavy metal health risks.

3.2 Though initiatives like those under COMESA to harmonise the acceptable levels of heavy metals in dairy standards was a great step to minimizing the levels across the regions, the actual implementation of these harmonized standards with regard to acceptable heavy metals levels will be difficult because the country does not have the required capacity to carry out certain activities such as tests for these heavy metals. Therefore, there was need for international action to build capacity of the relevant institutions, including legal enforcement, if implementation of these standards has to be effective.

Prepared by: Dingiswayo Shawa, Technical Secretary, COMESA Subcommittee on harmonization of Dairy Standards, Zambia Bureau of Standards, Zambia.

Michael Musenga, Forum Standing Committee Member, Zambia

From: Marcelo Enrique Conti, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Italy ------

From: Marcelo Enrique Conti [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: 21 February 2008 17:50 To: Stober, Judy A. Subject: references

Dear Judy,

I apologize for my little contribution at this step in the FSC working group. I was away from Rome and Italy in the last weeks. I would like to suggest these references:

M.E. Conti (2007) Heavy metals in food packagings (Chapter 9), in: Mineral Components in Food, J. Nriagu and P. Szefer, Eds., CRC press, Boca Raton, Florida, USA, ISBN: 0849322340, 339-362.

M.E. Conti, M. Boccacci Mariani, M.R. Milana, L. Gramiccioni (1996) Heavy metals and optical whitenings as quality parameters of recycled paper for food packaging, Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, 20, 1, 1-11.

M.E. Conti (1997) The content of heavy metals in food packaging paper boards: An atomic absorption spectroscopy investigation, Food Research International, 30,5, 343-348.

M.E. Conti, F. Botrè (1997) The content of heavy metals in food packaging paper: An atomic absorption investigation, Food Control, 8, 3, 131-136.

I think this could be a problem maybe in some developing countries where no strictly quality control on the origin of food packagings is made (i.e. the possible use of contaminated materials in some cases; i.e. coatings for food packaging, etc.). This, however is not a problem in developed countries were many directives and regulations are present. But this possible via of Pb and Cd contamination must be strictly controlled.

Another papers for your consideration could be:

Here are presented the levels of metals (Pb and Cd) in the whole wheat italian production and in italian honeys at a regional scale. The obtained levels in italian wheats seems to confirm the diminution of the Pb (and Cd) due to the introduction of unleaded fuel in the market.

M.E. Conti, F. Cubadda, M. Carcea (2000). Trace metals in soft and durum wheat from Italy, Food Additives and Contaminants, 17, 1, 45-53.

M.E. Conti, S. Saccares, F. Cubadda, R. Cavallina, C.A. Tenoglio, L. Ciprotti (1998) Il miele nel Lazio: Indagine sul contenuto in metalli in tracce e radionuclidi, La Rivista di Scienza dell'Alimentazione, n.2, 107-119. (http://www.apicolturaonline.it/mielazio.htm)

In this last paper Pb and Cd data on honeys at a Regional scale (Roma province) are given. It is also demonstrated the effect of Chernobyl fall out revealing certain levels of radionuclides in the anaklyzed honeys.

Kind regards Prof. Marcelo Enrique Conti SPES - Development Studies Research Centre Università di Roma "La Sapienza" e-mail: [email protected] IFCS/FSC/WG Lead and Cadmium/08 20 February 2008

FSC Working Group Lead and Cadmium: Need for International Action?

1st Teleconference 18 February

DRAFT Summary Note

1. Welcome

M. Luxem welcomes the participants thanking them for their valuable contributions to the preparation of the topic for Forum VI. She stated that the focus of the Forum VI plenary session was the question of health and environmental problems that may be related to the international transport of lead and cadmium via trade. The question to be examined was whether or not countries are able to address these problems effectively through unilateral or bilateral action or if there exist a need for coordinated international action and support. This would complement the ongoing work of UNEP and others whose work was addressing a number of other issues including the long-range environmental transport issue. She referred the WG to section 1.2 of the draft paper describing the scope of the topic.

2. Adoption of agenda

The proposed agenda was agreed.

3. Forum VI information paper

M. Luxem referred the WG to the meeting paper which consolidated input received by the requested deadline from C. Flavo and the secretariat. Subsequently additional input and comments had been received from P. Bakken (UNEP Chemicals), A Kumar (Toxic Links), and D. Wilson (on behalf of the International Cadmium Association and the International Lead Association). The WG has received copies of all the input. The comments from the lead and the cadmium associations were substantive, but unfortunately a representative was not available to participate in the teleconference. She proposed to post all the comments received on the WG web site.

M. Luxem invited E. Rosenthal, CIEL, as lead author of the draft paper, to introduce the paper and provide a brief summary of its contents. E. Rosenthal informed the WG on the approach taken to preparing the document. She presented the draft information paper describing the structure and contents of the four parts of the paper. Part 3 of the paper suggested issues concerning risk, responsibility and remedy that may guide the discussion of whether the trade in hazardous substances such as lead and cadmium throughout their lifecycles may increase risks to human health and the environment to the level of an “international concern” warranting a coordinated international approach. Part 4 presented a discussion on the question. It did not draw conclusions or proposed actions as these are the responsibility of Forum VI.

WG members were invited to comment of the draft paper and raise questions for clarification. The following provides a general overview of the discussions and comments. WG members were

- 1 - IFCS/FSC/WG Lead and Cadmium/08 20 February 2008 requested to submit all input in writing to ensure that it was clearly understood and could adequately be considered in preparing the final version of the paper. level and extent of global trade - document currently does not contain substantive data, available data should be added; further clarification on the focus of the IFCS paper – international mobility via trade – may be warranted to distinguish the IFCS initiative from UNEP and other international efforts focusing on long-range environmental transport; little information is available on trade aspects in developing countries; 4 recent studies in India have covered heavy metals and waste, heavy metals and toys, heavy metals and paint, and vegetables irrigated with industrial waste; more information on exposure pathways should be mentioned; batteries and substitutes - more information should be included; information on Pb and Cd exposure and adverse effects on children's health deserves specific mention; current content should be expanded especially in context of high indices of malnutrition in DCs; abilities of developing countries - expand discussion of (lack of) abilities and capacities to manage problems; reconcile para 70 and para 78 case examples cited are limited to too few countries; examples should include other countries particularly developing countries and countries in economic transition as the mobility of Pb and Cd via trade is understood to be a common problem in many countries; the Pb and Cd problem should be characterized as a global problem; more information should be included on the problems arising from certain products eg. toys and paint; the issues arise from trade are not limited to problems of waste; socioeconomic impact of adverse health effects from exposure to Pb and Cd should be included; data from the USA is of interest and relevant to other countries; discussion of problems from improper management of waste should be expanded; Cd fertilizers - important trade product and source of exposure; the global lifecycle of products must be considered and currently there is no framework for doing this; should not give the impression that if the problem is solved in developed world it is also solved in the developing world; paper should give greater emphasis to DC concerns.

M. Luxem noted the range of comments stating that they would be considered in light of the focus of the session. WG members were requested to submit specific data and references. She observed that there was no agreement on many of the comments received from industry. She suggested that industry and others may wish to prepare separate information papers on their views and/or work. WG members were encouraged to submit case studies as supplementary information for the session and the planned Contact Group thereafter. Written submissions will be made available on the Forum VI website.

J. Caicedo provided an update on the process and status of UNEP's work on Pb and Cd. During its meeting of 18 to 22 September 2006, the Working Group agreed that in view of the limited time available and the specific mandate of the Working Group, its discussions should focus primarily on the scientific aspects of the reviews and that priority should therefore be given to the consideration of the chapters of each review relating to: long-range transport in the environment (chapter 7); sources and releases to the environment (chapter 5); impacts on the environment (chapter 4); and human exposure and health effects (chapter 3), in that order. The Working Group did not discuss Chapter 8, on prevention and control technologies and practices, Chapter 9 on initiatives for preventing or controlling releases and limiting exposures, and the appendices, which provided an overview of existing and future national actions relevant to lead and cadmium, as the information that they contained fell outside the mandate of the Governing Council

- 2 - IFCS/FSC/WG Lead and Cadmium/08 20 February 2008 decision. The Working Group agreed, however, that they provided useful information and could be retained. Acknowledging the need to proceed with particular caution with regard to chapter 3 of each of the reviews, which dealt with human exposure and health effects, the Working Group agreed that all the information presented in that chapter should be reviewed by WHO and the chapter finalised after the meeting by WHO and UNEP. In addition, it was agreed during the meeting that consideration would be given to the chapters of each review relating to chemistry (chapter 2) and production, use and trade patterns (chapter 6), as those chapters placed in context the environmental effects of lead and cadmium. The October 2006 version of the reviews were considered as interim and, subject to the outcomes of discussions at the Governing Council, could be subject to further amendments in the future as new information became available. Such information, when submitted, would be made available on the website related to lead and cadmium. During last Governing Council meeting the UNEP Interim Reviews were not substantially discussed. Governing Council acknowledged the data and information gaps included in the reviews and asked us for further action to fill those data and information gaps, taking into account the specific situation of developing countries and countries with economies in transition, and to compile an inventory of existing risk management measures. It was an open, transparent and inclusive process where Governments, Intergovernmental and Non-governmental organizations took, and are still taking part. UNEP is in the process of internally reviewing the input received following the work of the consultant. Once this is completed, UNEP will circulate the documents for comments to all members of the UNEP Pb & Cd Working Group. In a parallel process, UNEP is also compiling an inventory of existing risk management measures as mandated by the Governing Council decision 24/3. It is expected that both, UNEP Interim Reviews and the inventory of existing risk management measures, will be finished during the second half of 2008. These will be then presented to Governing Council at its 25th regular session. Due to the available resources, it is envisioned that the WG will complete its work via electronic means.

M.Luxem invited UNEP to prepare a short information paper for Forum VI to update participants on the scope and status of its work. J. Caicedo said UNEP would be pleased to do so and noted the 15 June 2008 requested deadline.

Based on input received it was recognized that a number of issues may need to be examined more closely. In light of the remaining time to prepare the paper, M. Luxem proposed and it was agreed to call the paper a Thought Starter paper. Thought Starter papers are intended to provoke thought and bring about discussion. Thought Starter papers are not an in depth analysis or comprehensive review of the topic.

The WG considered the need to revise the title to more clearly convey the focus and content of the session and meeting paper. E. Rosenthal and G. Wiser as authors suggested the paper's title be changed to "International transport of lead and cadmium via trade - an international concern? C. Falvo suggested that the title be changed to read "further action" as this would address the criticism that there was adequate international action already ongoing. M. Luxem acknowledged that a more explicit title for the paper would be good. WG members were asked to give this additional thought and send proposals which would be presented to the FSC during its meeting for a decision.

The following process was proposed and agreed for revising the draft paper: WG members have until 21 February to submit written comments (all providing comments during the teleconference are requested to submit comments in writing in the next several days but no later than 21 February); all written comments will be compiled into a separate document which will be submitted to the FSC for its meeting and review of the paper and programme;

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for submission to the FSC the initial draft paper will be revised for clarity and accuracy; references will be checked; the TS paper, compiled comments and separate reference list will be submitted to the FSC and made available on the FSC and the WG web pages; the FSC will be asked to consider a change to the title of the session and /or meeting document to better reflect the focus and content of the plenary topic.

4. Forum VI plenary programme

M. Luxem introduced the proposed plenary programme which presented the initial thinking of the lead sponsors. In light of the very limited time allotted the session, it is important that all the presentations address the limited issue of problems arising from the mobility of Pb and Cd via trade and the need for coordinated international action to address these problems. Comments and suggestions have been received from O. Speranskaya and N. Sripaung. G. Karlaganis has agreed to make a brief presentation summarizing the relevant outcome of the Swiss sponsored Budapest Conference on Lead and Cadmium that the Forum VI session will build on. R. Arndt is willing to serve as moderator for the session. M. Mussenga proposed a case study from Zambia on a COMESA initiative to limit heavy metals contamination in milk products and he agreed to submit input for possible consideration. R. Agarwal said it would be very helpful if expected outcomes could be made available in writing prior to Forum VI.

M. Luxem requested members to submit written proposals for presentations. The proposals should include the title, full name and contact details of the proposed speaker and a 1 to 2 page abstract. Following the input received from the FSC at its meeting, the WG will have additional opportunities to discuss the programme.

5. Next steps

The WG will be informed on the outcome of the FSC review of the TS paper and proposed plenary programme. B. Alo requested the opportunity to review the revised TS paper which incorporated the current input and that to be received during the FSC meeting. The revised version of the TS will be distributed to the WG for final input. The WG will be contacted following the FSC meeting concerning the remaining work to prepare the plenary programme. M. Luxem proposed that the need for future WG teleconferences could be decided at a later date.

6. Other business

None.

M. Luxem thanked everyone for their time and valuable input.

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