UN chemicals negotiators to debate potential global chlorpyrifos ban

International chemicals negotiators began a biennial meeting today in Geneva, Switzerland, to decide how the global community should deal with certain toxic chemicals, including pesticides and some used in plastics. The Conference of the Parties (COP) to the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm conventions—United Nations treaties related to chemicals management—will focus on potential global bans of three persistent organic pollutants (POPS)—chlorpyrifos, medium-chain chlorinated paraffins, and long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (LC-PFCAs), among other topics.

“Chemicals are an integral part of the modern world,” Jacqueline Alvarez, chief of the chemicals and health branch at the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), said in a statement. “But too often, exposure to harmful chemicals through food, consumer products, and the environment can have severe consequences for people and the planet.”

Although each treaty is a separate entity, together they try to mitigate chemical harm to human health and the environment. The Stockholm Convention governs POPs, while the Rotterdam Convention deals with chemicals management, and the Basel Convention guides rules on international import and export of hazardous waste, including chemicals waste.

In October 2024, the Stockholm Convention POP scientific review committee recommended that chlorpyrifos, medium-chain chlorinated paraffins, and long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids (LC-PFCAs) no longer be used. Chlorpyrifos is an organophosphate pesticide that’s already banned in some countries but allowed for critical uses on 11 food and feed crops in the US. Medium-chain chlorinated paraffins are mixtures of chlorinated alkanes between 14 and 17 atoms long and are used as flame retardants and plasticizers. The health effects of LC-PFCAs are much like those of their per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) cousins and include developmental effects, neurotoxicity, and altered thyroid function, according to the POP scientific review committee. LC-PFCAs are often generated in the manufacture and incineration of PFAS.

The environmental advocacy group International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) suggests in a quick views sheet (PDF) that all three POPs be added to the Stockholm Convention banned substances list without any exemptions because there are alternatives for the compounds already in use. But, during a meeting in September 2024, the scientific review committee found two possible exemptions to a ban on LC-PFCAs, both in replacement parts for combustion engine–powered vessels and vehicles.

In addition to potential bans on the three chemicals, negotiators will discuss guidelines for POPs disposal as part of the Basel Convention and what chemicals can move over international borders without the importing country’s consent under the Rotterdam Convention.

The meeting could also affect another upcoming UN conference focused on plastics. The Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee to end plastic pollution is reconvening Aug. 5.

As in most UN conferences, what happens on the sidelines and between sessions can be just as important as the official addresses and meetings. That could be the case over the next 12 days.

“There are some clear issues in the COPs' agenda that are relevant to the plastics treaty negotiations, namely the discussions on plastic waste under the Basel Convention, and the potential 'listing' (ban) of two Persistent Organic Pollutants used in plastics under the Stockholm Convention,” Giulia Carlini, senior attorney for the advocacy group the Center for International Environmental Law says in an email to C&EN. “But most of all, eyes will be on the geopolitical and negotiations dynamics during the COPs, on the informal INC discussions in the corridors, and on a high level breakfast organized by the INC Secretariat.” Negotiators will be talking at length about the plastics treaty, trying to find out where other parties stand on key issues, and finding common ground, she says.

The Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm conventions COPs will run from April 28 through May 9.