Unsafe disposal of toxic wastes 467
International agreements on toxic waste disposal
For years, rich countries of North America and Europe used Africa, Asia,
Latin America, and Eastern Europe as toxic dumping grounds without any
legal pressure to stop. Finally, community action in the poorer countries,
together with pressure from environmentalists around the world, won
international agreements outlawing toxic trade.
The first agreement was the Basel Convention on the Control of
Transboundary Movements of Hazardous Wastes and their Disposal (1992).
This was won mostly because of the activists who followed the Khian Sea,
the ship that traveled around the world trying to dump its cargo of toxic ash.
Countries that sign the Basel Convention agree to treat, reuse, and dispose of
toxic wastes as close as possible to where they are made, rather than shipping
them to other countries.
In 2001, 92 nations signed the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs, see page 340). It bans production and use of the 12 most
harmful POPs (called “the Dirty Dozen”) and makes trading them illegal,
unless the use of a certain chemical will prevent more harm than it causes
(such as targeted use of DDT to control malaria, see page 150).
A third agreement passed in 2004, the Rotterdam Convention on Prior
Informed Consent. This requires a country to notify and get permission from
another country when it wants to export harmful chemicals.
When people know about and use these agreements, they can be an
important tool to make our world healthier and more just. But there are
many ways for countries and corporations to get around the law. For more
information on ways to use these and other national and international laws in
your struggles for environmental health, see Appendix B.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012