(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
As you read these lines, hundreds of environmental toxins flow into your veins. Some of the toxins affect your brain and, in the worst case, can impair concentration and memory. Some toxins can interfere with the hormonal balance in your body, which increases the risk of diabetes and overweight. Children are particularly susceptible to these adverse effects. A number of studies have revealed worryingly high levels of toxins in, among other things, children's clothing and toys sold in Norwegian stores. Over a year has passed since the Government announced that it would present a plan for a more non-toxic society. Despite the fact that the Storting has also demanded such a plan, new postponements are constantly being followed, and no one in the Ministry of Climate and Environment can currently say when it will be ready.
The toxins Bellona previously excavated in barrels of illegal fillings are now increasingly found in the food we eat, the clothes we wear and the things we surround ourselves with. Is that really the way we should have it?
Measures work. It's easy to feel powerless when trying to get into the poison challenge we face. We are gaining more and more control over our industrial emissions. Nevertheless, long-range environmental pollutants through air and ocean currents, and imports of products from countries outside of Europe's environmental requirements, lead to increasing doses of environmental pollutants. In addition, similar toxins are constantly leaking from historical pollution around abandoned mines, industrial plants and waste refills leading to elevated values of mercury, PCBs, dioxins and brominated flame retardants.
The worst thing we can do is close our eyes to these conditions. Environmental pollutants are not just a human health threat, but a danger to all the world's species and ecosystems. Substances that do not disappear, but accumulate in the body of humans and animals, increasingly lead to disease, reduced viability and reproductive ability, which in the long run can cause species to die out and the basis of human life to disappear.
By clearing up historical pollution, we can help bring back damaged nature.
For Bellona, it is important to point out that this is a situation we can do something about. Norway has previously contributed to international agreements that limit the use of some of the most dangerous environmental toxins, including mercury. This effort must be continued and intensified. Through stricter control and regulation of activities that lead to the spread of environmental toxins in Norway, we can significantly reduce our own sources. By cleaning up historical pollution, we can contribute to the return of destroyed nature.
As consumers, we need far better information and knowledge on how we can protect ourselves against environmental toxins. Bellona therefore works for better consumer information about which products contain toxic components. But this is not enough. In addition, far better control is needed over the content of environmental toxins in imported products, and stricter penalties when the rules are broken. Therefore, Bellona has proposed increased resources for border control and store inspection of imported products, as well as strengthening the police and prosecution authorities' investigation and prosecution of environmental crime.
Need clear policy. We need lower limit values for permitted levels of environmental toxins than we have today, and which, among other things, must take into account "cocktail effects" – the harmful effects of several environmental toxins together, not just in isolation. This is especially true for pesticide residues in food, persistent compounds in fish and harmful chemicals in building materials, textiles and electrical products, and we need more frequent checks that show that the limit values are complied with.
The work of eliminating environmental toxins is not just about cleaning up. It is just as much about developing non-toxic processes and products that replace the toxins with harmless alternatives. Here are great opportunities for Norwegian industry and technology environments. Norway needs better framework conditions and support schemes for the development of green chemicals and eco-designed products. For this reason, Bellona demands that significantly larger funds be set aside for research, development and implementation of this type of production process.
Both Sweden and Denmark have already presented action plans for combating environmental toxins. Five years have passed since the Environmental Toxins Committee presented its recommendations for what a Norwegian plan should contain. The Storting has called for it, and the Ministry of Climate and the Environment promised it. Bellona believes it is now high time that Solberg's government also presents a policy for how this challenge should be handled.
Kristensen is an expert advisor for environmental toxins and pollution in the Bellona Environmental Foundation.
karl@bellona.no.
