Order Code RS22379
Updated June 12, 2008
Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs):
Fact Sheet on Three International
Agreements
Linda-Jo Schierow
Specialist in Environmental Policy
Resources, Science, and Industry Division
Summary
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are chemicals that do not break down easily
in the environment, tend to accumulate as they move up the food chain, and may be
harmful to people and wildlife. Between 1998 and 2001, the United States signed two
international treaties and one executive agreement to reduce the production and use of
POPs and to regulate the trade and disposal of them. The President has signed and
submitted the two treaties to the Senate for advice and consent. If the Senate consents
by a two-thirds majority, and if Congress passes legislation needed to implement the
treaties and the executive agreement in the United States, then the treaties could be
ratified and the agreements would become binding U.S. law. Two U.S. statutes are
inconsistent with the agreements: the Toxic Substances Control Act, which governs
industrial uses of chemicals, and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide
Act, which regulates the sale and use of pesticides. Proposals to amend these statutes
were considered but not enacted in the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses. Prospects for
the 110th Congress are unclear.
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are chemicals that can harm human health and
wildlife, do not break down easily in the environment, and tend to accumulate as they
move up the food chain. Many POPs are transported in the air and water across
international boundaries. Most POPs are synthetic, industrial chemicals or pesticides, but
a few are unintentional byproducts of processes such as combustion.
Between 1998 and 2001, the United States participated in the negotiation of three
United Nations-sponsored international agreements to address global problems associated
with POPs. Two are treaties: the 2001 Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs Convention) and the 1998 Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed
Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade
(PIC Convention). The 1998 Aarhus Protocol on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs
Protocol) is an amendment to an executive agreement, the 1979 Geneva Convention on
Long-Range Transboundary Air Pollution (LRTAP).

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The Stockholm POPs Convention would ban or severely restrict the production, use,
trade, and disposal of 12 POPs, including polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs),
polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins, the polychlorinated dibenzo-p-furans, and 9
pesticides, all of which are strictly regulated in the United States. Specific exemptions
to the prohibitions are allowed (e.g., the use of DDT to control mosquitos that may carry
malaria). The agreement has been ratified by 155 nations. It entered into force on May
17, 2004.1
The Rotterdam PIC Convention was opened for signature in 1998, has been ratified
by 120 nations, and entered into force February 24, 2004.2 It aims to ensure that
importing nations know about and agree to imports of chemicals that are banned or
severely restricted in the exporting country or that are severely hazardous pesticide
formulations. Many POPs fall into these categories.
The Aarhus POPs Protocol was concluded in 1998, has been ratified by 29 of the 55
States in the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE), and entered
into force in October 2003.3 The Protocol aims to eliminate or restrict production and
use, ensure environmentally sound disposal, and restrict emissions for many of the same
POPs that are covered by the Stockholm POPs Convention. Most are heavily restricted
in the United States.
The President has signed and submitted the two treaties to the Senate for advice and
consent. If the Senate consents by a two-thirds majority, and if the United States enacts
legislation needed to implement the treaties and the executive agreement in the United
States, then the treaties can be ratified and the agreements would become binding U.S.
law. The POPs Protocol does not require Senate approval; however, legislation is needed
to resolve inconsistencies between provisions of all three agreements and two U.S. laws:
the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA), which governs industrial uses of chemicals,
and the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act (FIFRA), which regulates
pesticide sale and use.4
Bills in the 107th, 108th, and 109th Congresses would have authorized the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency to implement the agreements, but no proposal was
enacted. No implementing legislation has been proposed in the 110th Congress.
Stakeholders appear united in their support for legislation authorizing regulation of the
pesticides and other chemicals listed in annexes to the agreements. However, views
diverge when changes to TSCA and FIFRA are perceived to either simplify or complicate
existing regulatory procedures or standards under those laws, either for the listed POPs
1 The latest information on the Stockholm Convention is available at [http://chm.pops.int/].
2 The latest information on the PIC Convention is available at [http://www.pic.int/home.php?
type=t&id=63&sid=17].
3 The UNECE countries are mainly European, former Soviet Union countries, the United States,
and Canada. The latest information on the POPs Protocol may be found at [http://www.unece.org/
env/lrtap/status/98pop_st.htm].
4 For summaries of these laws, see CRS Report RL31905, The Toxic Substances Control Act: A
Summary of the Act and Its Major Requirements
, and CRS Report RL31921, Pesticide Law: A
Summary of the Statutes
, both by Linda-Jo Schierow.

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or for other chemicals that might be added in the future through amendments to the
agreements. Some believe that having agreed to international actions, the United States
should expedite them. Others are more concerned with protecting the power of Congress
to decide how and when to regulate particular chemicals.