Campaign partner Women in Europe for a Common Future (WECF) is glad to announce that the highly toxic flame retardant HBCD will be phased out globally!
On 10 May, at the 6th Conference of Parties of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants in Geneva, the global community agreed to phase out Hexabromocyclododecane (HBCD) - a highly toxic brominated flame retardant widely used in building insulation, upholstery and electronics in the EU, despite severe adverse effects on the development of the nervous system and mental abilities of children.
This chemical has become the 23rd substance to be globally banned under the Stockholm Convention and is an important step towards a toxic free future. Yet, although many countries proposed this global ban without any exemption, the EU fought to obtain an exemption for its production and use in insulation material and an authorization to recycle products containing the substance until 2024, in contravention of the text of the Convention and EU implementing legislation, which clearly forbids the recycling of persistent organic pollutants.
Read WECF´s full press release here
