Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) are hazardous and potentially life-threatening toxic chemicals. The international community recently agreed to create an international legally binding instrument to control POPs.' Although myriad questions confront the creation of a new regime, this Comment will focus on the types of norms and control strategies that should be devised in order to establish an effective POPs regime. In order to analyze the issue of norm crafting, Part I of this Comment outlines the background of the POPs problem and the current efforts of the United Nations to establish consensus on the need for a POPs regime. Part II describes the responses of the international community to the POPs problem. Part III analyzes the control devices available for inclusion in a POPs regime. Part IV establishes that for each of the three subgroups of POPs a specific set of norms must be created. It argues that the appropriate control devices are: (1) an aggregate national cap for unintentionally produced industrial by-products; (2) a combination of bans or restrictions on production and use and labeling for pesticides; and (3) the development of new destruction and remediation technology in conjunction with a set of benchmark standards for industrial chemicals. Part V concludes with a brief summary and a look to the future of the POPs problem.

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