By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
Last week, I harped on the resolution adopted at the recent United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) (UNEA-5.2) in Nairobi, which commits 175 countries to craft a legally binding global treaty to end plastic pollution.
To illustrate how important a step it is to battle plastic pollution on an institutional level – here in the Philippines, the campaign season for the May 9 National and Local Elections has already resulted in a huge production of plastic pollutants in the form of campaign posters.
Yes, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) has put out its guidelines enjoining candidates to avoid putting up campaign materials laden with hazardous substances. But the fact remains that there is no national policy regulating cadmium in plastics such as PVC-based tarpaulins – the standard choice for campaign posters.
A recent study commissioned by EcoWaste Coalition showed that, so far, campaign posters of six candidates for president have multicolored coatings that contain dangerous levels of cadmium – a substance tagged by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the “ten chemicals of major public health concern.”
While most volunteer groups produce and donate these campaign tarpaulins and posters, it is relevant to point this out to the specific applicants for the presidency. So, Firing Line shouts out to former senator Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo, Manila Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, labor leader Leodegario “Ka Leody” de Guzman, and Senators Panfilo “Ping” Lacson and Manny Pacquiao that their faces appearing in these posters scattered nationwide are literally toxic.
SGS, which is the global testing company commissioned by EcoWaste Coalition, reported that the campaign posters of our six presidential candidates “had cadmium ranging from 607 to 775 parts per million (ppm) while the white plastic sheet had cadmium between 384 to 546 ppm.” These are levels dangerously above the European Union (EU) and WHO allowable limit of only 100 ppm.
Dreadfully, as the local campaign season sets in, we can expect the number of plastic posters with hazardous levels of cadmium to grow exponentially. And when the election is done by June, all these become trash. Environmental groups like EcoWaste have long warned that “burning PVC tarpaulin waste in dumps, cement kilns and incinerators trigger the formation and release of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) such as dioxins and furans, which are targeted for global reduction, if not elimination, under the Stockholm Convention on POPs of which the Philippines is a signatory.”
For this reason, Firing Line stands by the group in seeking urgent government action “to issue a supplemental directive phasing out cadmium use in plastics as colorant and/or stabilizer.”
“A supplemental regulation phasing out cadmium in plastics will be in sync with the global consensus to address the full lifecycle of plastic, including its production, design, and disposal, to end plastic pollution,” according to EcoWaste Plastic Solutions campaigner Coleen Salamat.
* * *
SHORT BURSTS. For comments or reactions, email firingline@ymail.com or tweet @Side_View. Read current and past issues of this column at http://www.thephilbiznews.com