S'pore signs environment treaty

SINGAPORE is now a signatory to the first environment treaty to be adopted in the new millennium.

It has joined 90 other countries in signing the Stockholm Convention On Persistent Organic Pollutants.

The treaty calls for measures and international cooperation to control the production, use, trade and disposal of substances termed as persistent organic pollutants.

There are 12 pollutants on the list.

These are chemicals that resist degradation, and include DDT, dioxins and furans.

The Environment Ministry said in a press release yesterday that the propensity of these pollutants to accumulate in living tissues poses a risk to the well- being of people and wildlife.

It added that scientific evidence indicated that exposure to very low doses of certain of these chemicals can lead to cancer, damage to the human nervous system and diseases of the immune system.

It can also lead to reproductive disorders and interference with normal infant and child development.

Professor Walter Woon, Singapore's ambassador to Germany, signed the convention on behalf of the Government yesterday in Stockholm, Sweden.

This was a day after the treaty was adopted formally by 110 countries.