The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has adopted a legally binding Convention banning the application of organotin anti-fouling paints on ships' hulls by 2003 and its presence by 2008. This requires not less than 25 States, the combined merchant fleets of which constitute not less than 25% of the gross tonnage of the world's merchant shipping, it's not likely that the Convention will enter into force by 2002. So WWF is seeking commitments from industry and government to show active support for the IMO Convention. This will be achieved through eliminating the use of organotin paints, with action taken to bring about such elimination of the use organotins before 2003, the date proposed by the IMO.
The main qualification for membership in the 2003 Group (organotin-free group) will be that the industry player concerned is fully organotin-free by January 1st 2003. Membership will not be granted to the shipping companies unless their entire fleet is organotin free by 2003.
Organotin compounds, such as TBT, are considered to be amongst the most toxic chemicals ever released into the marine environment. Even at very low concentrations, they have been shown to produce serious negative impacts upon marine life. These cause the disruption of the hormone systems in marine invertebrates, such as dogwhelks, causing fremales to acquire the sexual characteristics of males. Studies show that organotins are present in marine species at all levels of the ecosystem: fish, birds and mammals. Possible human endocrine disrupting properties of organotins have been seen.
Anti-fouling paints on ships' hulls is a major source of organotins. Organotin paint has been partially banned for use on smaller vessels. This has been shown to reduce levels of organotin, but their continued use on larger ships, and the fact that the compounds can persist in sediments for a lengthy time period, means that the marine environment is still saturated with these chemicals at unacceptably high levels.
To support conservation of marine biodiversity and reduce destructive human impacts it is imperative that the use of these organotin compounds be phased out. This chemical is considered to be the most toxic chemical ever deliberately released into the marine environment.
Contacts:
Patricia Cameron
Pollution Prevention Officer
WWF Germany - Marine and Coastal Division
Am Güthpol 11
D - 28757 Bremen
Germany
Tel. +49 421 65846 16
Fax +49 421 65846 26
email: _ HYPERLINK mailto:Cameron@wwf.de __Cameron@wwf.de_mailto:svowles@wwf.org.uk __svowles@wwf.org.uk_
Dr Simon Vowles
Marine Policy Officer [Pollution]
WWF
Panda House
Weyside Park
Godalming GU7 1XR
UK
Tel ++44 1483 426 444
About the Author
Margot B, Writer & Web Developer
http://www.writers.Org-HQ.com
mailto:margotb@wonderport.com |
|
 |
Maguma has integrated support for the eBay Acellerator Toolkit for PHP (PHP-AT) in their PHP IDE Maguma Workbench
(Bolzano/Italy) Maguma will publish at the beginning of April 2005 a new module, the PHP AT of eBay. This new module will be integrated in the modular PHP IDE, Maguma Workbench. The Accelerator Tooolkit for PHP (PHP-AT) allows the integration of...
...Read More
Collapsing
“Collapsing…” Terry Dashner……………………..Faith Fellowship Church PO Box 1586 Broken Arrow, OK 74013 Capitol Reader Political Book Summaries writes, “In Collapse, Jared Diamond argues that present global resource consumption trends are not...
...Read More
The Top 10 Benefits of Spiritual Environmental Design
What would your life be like if you were surrounded by "feel good" people, places, and things so that your spirit really gets the chance to soar? This top ten, taken from CoachVille's Personal Environments Community at...
...Read More
How You Can Give Better Holiday Gifts AND Be More Environmentally Friendly
It's the holiday shopping season, and Grinning Planet would like to point out that the holiday phrase "Ho, ho, ho!" also relates to being green--it's the Jolly Green Giant's tagline. Well, OK, that doesn't exactly get us to the "eco-friendly"...
...Read More
Reuse in the Workshop
Reuse in the Workshop (476 words) The workshop is a great place for reusing items formally destined for the landfill. Even if you do not have a shop or craft area you can always donate the items mentioned in the following paragraphs to friends,...
...Read More
|
