The seventeenth meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC 17) was a busy meeting for Committee members who have not met in person since 2019.

POPRC 17 continued the work on chemicals considered at POPRC 16 in 2021 to determine if global action under the Stockholm Convention is warranted. For the pesticide methoxychlor, the POPRC considered a draft risk management evaluation. Once agreed, it was forwarded with the POPRC’s recommendation to list methoxychlor in Annex A (elimination), B (restriction) and/or C (unintended release) of the Stockholm Convention.

The POPRC considered draft risk profiles for Dechlorane Plus, a flame retardant, and UV-328, a stabilizer used in plastic products such as some personal care products, rubber, and coatings. The draft risk profile set out whether these substances meet the criteria to be listed in the Convention. These criteria are set out in Annex E of the Convention.

Also before the Committee were three proposals for chemicals to be considered as potential POPs and included in Annexes A, B and/or C of the Convention. These were:

• Chlorpyrifos, submitted by the European Union;
• Chlorinated paraffins with carbon chain lengths in the range C14-17 and chlorination levels at or exceeding 45% chlorine by weight, submitted by the United Kingdom; and
• Long-chain perfluorocarboxylic acids, their salts and related compounds, submitted by Canada. 

The POPRC is a 31-member expert committee established tasked with reviewing proposals submitted by a party to list a new substance under the Stockholm Convention. The committee has eight government-designated experts from Africa, eight from Asia and the Pacific, three from Central and Eastern Europe, five from Latin America and the Caribbean, and seven from Western European and Other States.

Following a submission, the POPRC follows a three-stage review process. The first stage is to review the proposal against criteria, set out in Annex D, relating to persistence, bio-accumulation, potential for long-range environmental transport, and adverse effects. If a chemical meets the Annex D criteria, then the substance is moved to the second stage of review, which this entails preparation of a risk profile as set out in Annex E.

If, on the basis of this risk profile, the POPRC concludes that global action is warranted, the third stage of review involves preparing a risk management evaluation detailing socio-economic considerations of possible control measures according to Annex F. At the end of these three stages of review, the POPRC decides whether to recommend listing under Annex A (elimination), Annex B (restriction), and/or Annex C (unintentional production). The POPRC then forwards its recommendation to the Conference of the Parties (COP).

The COP then decides whether to amend Annexes A, B and/or C by listing the proposed substance under the Convention. When the Convention was adopted in 2001, it listed 12 POPs known as the “dirty dozen.” As of December 2020, that list has expanded, based on POPRC recommendations, to include 30 substances, including pesticides, industrial chemicals, and by-products.

POPRC 17 took place 24-28 January 2022 in Geneva, Switzerland, with online options for those who cannot participate in person.