22 resources found

Plastic pollution: harmful chemicals in our plastics

Global cumulative plastic production is predicted to reach 34,000 million tonnes between 1950 and 2050.The harmful chemicals released from plastic products throughout their entire life cycle can pose a serious risk to humans and the environment, including when waste is not properly managed, finding its way to air, water and soils.While the preparations for the legally binding agreement on plastic pollution are ongoing, the plastic waste and chemicals in plastics are being discussed at the 2021/2022 meetings of the conferences

Gender equality to make mercury history

On International Women’s Day, the Secretariat of the Minamata Convention on Mercury launched a video on how women are more negatively impacted by mercury and what needs to be done to better protect, support and promote gender equality. watch the videoThe Minamata Convention tackles mercury throughout its entire life cycle, fighting gender issues every step of the way. This includes supporting gender-specific trainings and helping implement National Action Plans with a gender perspective -- with special focus on the problem
Emerging Policy Issues: Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

ICCM5 Joint video message UNEP ED and German Minister for the Environment

Joint video message from Svenja Schulze, German Minister for the Environment, and Inger Andersen, Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, on the Fifth session of the International Conference on Chemicals Management (ICCM5) that should have started this week in Bonn, and has been postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Both call upon the international community to keep the momentum going to protect human health and the environment from the potential adverse impacts of chemicals and waste beyond 2020

SAICM Secretariat Team

December 2020
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SAICM Secretariat Team

Video: Mercury in skin lightening products - a threat to health

Video animation explaining why mercury and, in particular, mercury in skin lightening products is dangerous to health and the need for countries to take action to ban this source of exposure.
Emerging Policy Issues: Endocrine-Disrupting Chemicals

SAICM Emerging Policy Issues Video

Have you ever noticed how many chemicals shape people’s daily lives? They keep homes sparkling clean, boost food production, and are included in virtually all manufactured goods surrounding you right now. Chemicals drive the economy but as we produce more than ever before, they have to deliver their benefits without damaging our health and environment.Toxic lead paint for example is still used in many regions of the world and Highly hazardous pesticides continue to poison agricultural workers and contaminate the

SAICM Perflourinated Chemicals Video

Perflourinated Chemicals (PFCs) are the key ingredient in many stain, water and grease repellent coatings that make outdoor jackets water tight and frying pans non sticky. These chemicals consist of long molecules that contain carbon chains surrounded by fluorine. That bond between carbon and fluorine is incredibly tight. They interact so strongly with each other that the normal, inter-molecular forces, that cause substances to stick to each other, don’t stand a chance.While some types of PFCs are either safe or
Emerging Policy Issues: Perfluorinated Chemicals

SAICM Environmentally Persistent Pharmaceuticals Pollutants Video

Pharmaceuticals are chemicals we specifically design to act on living cells. They regulate, in organisms, hormonal balance and the way it metabolizes its nutrients. Pharmaceuticals even change the way signals travel between cells. In order to work, many drugs have to resist the stomach’s acid environment, so the compounds can reach their destination inside the body. That’s why they are formulated to degrade very slowly or not at all. When active pharmaceuticals pass through our bodies and enter the environment
Emerging Policy Issues: Pharmaceutical pollutants
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