GOVERNMENTS

Quite a lot, provided that they have:

• Political Will
• Resources to regulate and enforce standards
• Popular Support.

These are some of the things that governments can do:

• BAN products that are known to damage human health or the environment; or, if there are some limited occasions when their use may be justified, strictly regulate their use. This has been done, for example, to end the use of lead in house paints and asbestos in construction and to strictly limit the use of DDT in pesticides. It is also done to control the consumption of tobacco. Some African countries have banned the production of single use plastics (like shopping bags) to protect the environment.
• INSIST on full reporting on the use of chemicals in products imported into their countries. This is known as the principle of Prior Informed Consent. When governments know what is being imported, they can make a well-informed decision about whether or not to permit the import.
• INTRODUCE regulations in labour standards to protect workers from exposure to chemicals in industry. They can mandate the use of safety equipment and send inspectors to examine conditions in industrial plants.
• REQUIRE companies to label their products so that consumers can make an informed decision about what they buy and use in their homes.
• DEVELOP regulations on the safe elimination of existing stockpiles of chemicals, to make sure that they do not end up in landfills and the water table.(The BIIRD Principle)

It is often easier for governments to work together multilaterally, so that products that are banned in one jurisdiction do not end up being diverted to a different country. In order to do this, governments can:

• Work together to negotiate international Conventions or Treaties on the management of specific products. There is, for example an International Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (like DDT) which most countries in the world adhere to. The United Nations Environment Program recently agreed to negotiate a Convention on Plastics, beginning later this year, in order to protect the oceans.
• Create regional organizations to develop and apply regulations controlling the use of specific products. The European Union has some of the toughest environmental standards in the world, and any company which wants to export into the EU, or operate factories in the EU, has to comply with them. The African Union, or SADCC, could agree to develop similar rules, or agree to follow the EU standard in their own home countries.
• Commission research, so that they get to know more about the effects of these chemicals in their own environments. This is particularly important when there are unique aspects of the environment which don’t necessarily exist in other countries and could be affected by the use of these chemicals, such as the effects on wildlife in conservation areas or on plants in South Africa’s unique flora.

Yes there is a lot governments can do. But introducing laws and regulations will only work if it is accompanied by consistent and thorough enforcement. Governments need to recruit and train inspectors who can visit industrial plants and warehouses, ensuring that standards are being enforced, and employ scientists in laboratories who can test for the presence of dangerous materials, including EDCs. And they need expert policy advisors who stay in touch with international trends and warn the government when new threats to human health and the environment appear—as they will. This is not easy, and it does not come cheap.

This is where YOU come in. Governments need to know that people care about health and safety, that their health is more important than a slightly cheaper agricultural pesticide, or cheap and disposable consumer products. They need to know that people care about safe working conditions, and clean water. Governments will do something when they know that there is a problem, they know how to solve it, and they will be rewarded for doing something about it. We need citizen activists to make that happen.