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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JUNE 29, 1998
2:01 PM
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CONTACT: Greenpeace USA
Mary MacNutt: (416) 271-8408
Dwight Mims: (202) 255-9561
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Greenpeace Vigil At Start Of Montreal Negotiations Sends
Message Of Hope For A Toxic Free Future
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MONTREAL - June 29 - Fifty women embracing symbolic pregnant bellies
welcomed international government delegations beginning negotiations on a treaty to deal
with persistent organic pollutants (POPs), poisonous chemicals that are contaminating food
around the world. The action highlights both the threat these toxic pollutants pose to
future generations and the hope that these negotiations promise. The women participating
in the action maintained a silent vigil for two hours, as delegates entered the conference
centre to begin their deliberations.
"We are here to greet the negotiators, but also to remind them of their grave
responsibilities," said Morag Simpson, Greenpeace Canada Toxics Campaigner.
"They must agree on an effective program of global action to eliminate POPs so that
every pregnant woman in the world can know that her womb can again become a toxic-free
zone."
Many of the most toxic chemicals under discussion during these negotiations are passed
from mother to child in the womb and interfere with optimal development of the fetus. POPs
are also known to cross the placenta from mother to fetus and can pass to the nursing
infant through breast milk. They are linked to a wide array of health problems: falling
sperm counts, rising rates of breast and testicular cancer, behavior disorders, immune
system changes and others.
The United Nations-sponsored negotiations starting in Montreal this week mark an historic
occasion: the first effort to control a class of manmade toxic substances on a global
basis. Action will focus initially on twelve pollutants of special concern including the
notorious dioxins, furans, PCBs and DDT. The initial twelve are all chlorine-containing
chemicals that are long lasting in the environment and travel long distances on air
currents.
Many scientists believe there are no safe levels of POPs, hence, they must be completely
eliminated.
Greenpeace is the leading independent organization which uses peaceful and creative
activism to protect the global environment.
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