11/30/2000 Bemidji, Minnesota - American Indian and Alaska Natives are departing this week to Johannesburg, South Africa, to take part in a United Nations international meeting on a group of life threatening chemicals called POPs - persistent organic pollutants. Starting next week, over 120 countries, including the United States, will begin their final negotiations on a global and legally binding treaty for the elimination of toxic chemicals. The final signing of the treaty is scheduled for May 2001 in Stockholm, Sweden.

Since the 1940's, more than 100,000 chemicals have been introduced globally into the environment. With mounting scientific evidence that the worst of these toxics are deadly in small amounts, travel long distances via air currents, cause life threatening illnesses, and endanger people and wildlife all over the world, the United Nations Environmental Program mandated the world governments create a legally binding treaty banning the worst of these pollutants. For example, dioxin was sited in a 1985 US Environmental Protection Agency report as "the most potent carcinogen ever tested in a laboratory." Dioxin is an unintentional by-product of industry that is still being produced and released in the US. Currently the treaty focuses on 12 of the most deadly chemicals, including PCB, DDT, and other pesticides. Dioxin and furans are also included in the treaty.

"Our tribes are disproportionately affected by these chemicals because of our cultural, physical and spiritual tie to the land," says Charlotte Caldwell, a POPs organizer with the Indigenous Environmental Network. "As a Menominee woman that resides in the Great Lakes, dioxin contaminants are poisoning our fish. Our ceremonies call for eating fish and other traditional foods. But when the fish is contaminated, so are our women and our babies." Caldwell is one of the participants attending the meeting that has been active educating tribal governmental leaders in the Great Lakes about this international treaty and the dangers of these chemicals. Scientific studies found these chemicals, even in small releases, bioaccumulate in the environment, in food sources and are transferred to the unborn fetus.

Industrialized countries and industry, including the US, Canada, Australia, and Japan have been major obstacles during the treaty negotiations. Many countries, non-governmental organizations, and concerned scientists are demanding a strong treaty that supports language to eliminate the production of these chemicals. "The US has been back pedaling on the word elimination," said Tom Goldtooth, director of IEN.

"The US has been taking a position for language of reduction with a number of loopholes and exemptions. These chemicals, including dioxin cannot be managed or controlled. There is no middle ground, this is too serious of a matter that affects the health of our future generation. We demand environmental justice. World governments must support the ultimate elimination of these chemicals," Gold tooth added.

POPs tend to migrate towards colder regions of the north. POPs are trapped by the cold air and accumulate in the fat tissues of animals such as fish, seals, polar bears and human populations that live in the colder arctic regions. In some parts of the arctic, Alaska Natives are exposed to levels of POPs that exceed established standards for consumption. "Our land is a sinkhole for these contaminants," states, Evon Peter, of the Venetie tribe of Arctic Village, Alaska, who will be in attendance at the South Africa meeting. "Elimination is the only solution to stop the northern flow of these chemicals which are disrupting the delicate balance of nature here in the arctic, " said Pam Miller, director of Alaska Community Action on Toxics, based in Anchorage.

IEN will be taking to the meeting, over 40 tribal governmental and intertribal resolutions supporting the elimination of POPs. Last year at the National Congress of American Indian convention, over 250 tribes approved a NCAI resolution supporting the elimination of POPs and requesting for tribes to be consulted by the US Department of State on this international treaty. At the eleventh hour, during the past month, the Department of State attempted to have consultation with tribes in the Great Lakes and Alaska region on the POPs treaty. In both Alaska and the Great Lakes, the response of the tribes was the same - they wanted elimination with no exemptions or loopholes on POPs production.

"Our people need to be present at these meetings and speak out on these issues. These issues affect our treaty rights. What good are treaty rights if the fish and game are contaminated," says Ester Nahgahnub, elder and chair of the Ceded Territory Committee of the Fond du Lac Band of Ojibwe in Minnesota.

For more information:
Jackie Warledo, Indigenous Environmental Network (405) 878-6051
Pam Miller, Alaska Community Action on Toxics, (907) 222-7714
Tom Goldtooth, Indigenous Environmental Network, (218) 760-0442

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