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United Nations: Environmental Pollution Causes More Deaths Than Covid-19
15 Feb 2022The United Nations report reminded that environmental pollution causes more deaths than Covid-19, that toxic chemicals should be banned urgently, and that a healthy environment is a fundamental human right.
In the environmental report published by the United Nations (UN), experts said that environmental pollution causes more deaths than Covid-19 and that precautions should be taken for this.
The report called for “urgent and assertive action” to ban some toxic chemicals. The research stated that pollution caused by states and companies contributed to more deaths globally than Covid-19.
Pollution from chemical waste is a crime against humanity
Pollution from pesticides, plastics and electronic waste causes widespread human rights violations and at least 9 million premature deaths annually, and the issue is largely ignored, the report said. According to Worldometer data, coronavirus has caused nearly 5.9 million deaths globally.
Environmental pollution management fails
According to Emma Farge from Reuters: “Current approaches to managing the risks posed by environmental pollution and toxic waste materials are clearly failing, resulting in widespread violations of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” said UN Special Rapporteur David Boyd, author of the report. Boyd also said, “I think we have an ethical and now legal responsibility to offer better to people.”
Demand for a ban on PFAS
The report, which will be presented next month to the UN Human Rights Council, which declares a clean environment as a human right, was published on the Council's website. It calls for a ban on PFAS, or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances used in household products such as nonstick cookware, which have been linked to cancer and are called “forever chemicals” because they are durable.
Sacrifice areas
It also calls for the cleaning of polluted areas and, in extreme cases, the relocation of affected, disadvantaged and disadvantaged communities from areas defined as "sacrifice zones". The term sacrifice zones is used to mean unhealthy places for people to live.
Originally used to describe nuclear test sites, the term was expanded in the report to include any heavily contaminated site or site that has become uninhabitable due to climate change. “What I want to do by telling these sacrifice zones stories is really put a human face on otherwise inexplicable, incomprehensible statistics,” Boyd said.
Climate and environmental justice agenda
UN Human Rights Representative Michelle Bachelet stated that environmental threats are the biggest global rights issue and that an increasing number of climate and environmental justice cases successfully bring these human rights to the agenda.
Chemical waste will be part of negotiations at the upcoming UN environmental conference in Nairobi, Kenya, from February 28 to March 2, including a proposal to establish a special panel similar to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
What are PFAS?
PFAS or per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances; A class of approximately 9,000 compounds used to make products water, stain or heat resistant. Because they are so effective, the chemicals are used in dozens of industries and are found in thousands of everyday consumer products, such as stain guards, carpets and shoes.
Textile manufacturers use them to produce waterproof clothing. It is also found in floor polishes, nonstick cookware, food packaging, cosmetics, firefighting foam and many more products.
Source: yesilgazete.org
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