IPCP Declaration
The production of chemicals is an important source of economic welfare and chemical products provide a multitude of benefits for modern societies. However, many chemicals also enter the environment and chemical pollution will remain a major environmental issue in the 21st century in many regions of the world. To reduce levels of pollution and ensure safe production, use and disposal of chemicals, large scientific, technical and political efforts will be required. To address this need, we propose to establish an International Panel on Chemical Pollution, IPCP. The main task of this panel will be to provide scientific support for decision makers dealing with pollution problems and the assessment and management of chemicals, both at the national and international level and based on the state-of-the-science.
In the past decades, considerable progress has been made in the assessment and management of chemicals. Effective scientific methods have been developed, insight into the environmental fate and effects of chemicals has been gained, levels of pollution have been reduced in many parts of the world, and international conventions on pollution control have been established.
At the same time, the production volume of chemicals in commerce has grown considerably and for many regions of the world, this growth is expected to continue. There are tens of thousands of chemicals on the market for which risks to humans and the environment have not yet been evaluated. Chemicals are released to the environment and to food, drinking water and indoor air from many applications. Examples are flame retardants, surfactants, pharmaceuticals, plastic softeners, pesticides, industrial chemicals, heavy metals, and unintentional by-products. Even chemicals that have already been banned under the Stockholm Convention continue to enter the environment. Many of the chemicals released remain for a considerable time in the environment, cycle between different environmental media, and are transported over long distances, which makes chemicals management an international task.
The available scientific knowledge shows that there are many remaining uncertainties and gaps of knowledge. In many cases, these uncertainties and knowledge gaps still prevent our understanding of the sources, fate and effects of anthropogenic chemicals in the environment. This is not just a scientific challenge but also an obstacle for the effective communication of scientific results to the public and to decision makers in government and industry and for the application of scientific knowledge in decision making processes.
These limitations of our current knowledge are the reason why we believe that the assessment and mitigation of chemical pollution will substantially benefit from a careful evaluation and interpretation of available scientific results, from a more targeted communication of scientific results to decision makers and the public, from a closer coordination of scientific efforts, and from long-term support of research into the environmental fate and effects of chemicals.
To achieve these objectives, we suggest that an International Panel on Chemical Pollution, IPCP, be established. The IPCP will be an international network of scientists from all regions of the world who share, compare and evaluate results of their research, identify areas in which a consensus has been reached, and specify major uncertainties and research needs. The IPCP will be open to scientists from all over the world; it will aim to develop a scientifically sound and balanced view of major issues of chemical pollution and evaluate different options for chemicals management. Based on its scientific expertise, the IPCP will support political processes at the national and international level, in particular in the context of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
List of Signatures
The following scientists signed the above declaration identifying the need for an independent international network of academic researchers in the field of chemical pollution.
Sam Adu-Kumi
Ghana EPA, Accra, Ghana
Zarema Amirova
Environmental Research and Protection Centre, Ufa, Russia
J. Samuel Arey
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland
Åsa Arrhenius
Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden
Thomas Backhaus
Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden
Stelvio M. Bandiera
University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
Benjamin Bandowe
University of Berne, Berne, Switzerland
Ricardo Barra
Chile Centre of Environmental Sciences, University of Concepcion, Concepcion, Chile
Georg Becher
Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway
Peter Behnisch
BioDetection Systems, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Åke Bergman
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Alberto Bezama
Chile Centre of Environmental Sciences, University of Concepcion, Concepcion, Chile
Hans Blanck
University of Göteborg, Göteborg, Sweden
Arlene Blum
Green Science Policy Institute and University of California, Berkeley, USA
Christian Bogdal
ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Jacob de Boer
VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Henk Bouwman
North-West University, Potchefstroom, South Africa
Magnus Breitholtz
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Knut Breivik
Norwegian Institute for Air Research / University of Oslo, Norway
Thomas Bucheli
Agroscope Reckenholz Tänikon Research Station, Zürich, Switzerland
Peter Burauel
Forschungszentrum Juelich, Jülich, Germany
Nathalie Chevre
University of Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland
Juan C. Colombo
Universidad Nacional de La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina
Jose Corella
University Complutense of Madrid, Madrid, Spain
Jordi Dachs
Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, Barcelona, Spain
Ulrika Dahl
Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, Stockholm, Sweden
Björn Dahlbäck
Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden
Matteo Dalla Valle
Centre for Chemicals Management, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Michael S. Denison
University of California, Davis, USA
Trushitkumar Desai
ENPRO Enviro Tech and Engineers, Surat, Gujarat, India
Cynthia de Wit
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Antonio Di Guardo
University of Insubria, Como, Italy
Marwan Dimashki
National Consultant on Chemical Pollution, Damascus, Syria
Annekatrin Dreyer
Eurofins GfA – Air Monitoring, Hamburg, Germany
Mohamed Eisa
United Nations Industrial Development Organization, Vienna, Austria
Magnus Engwall
Örebro University, Örebro, Sweden
Beate Escher
The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Elke Fries
University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
Silke Gabbert
Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands
Caroline Gaus
he University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia
Zachary Getenga
Masinde Muliro University, Kakamega, Kenya
Saso Gligorovski
Universités d’Aix-Marseille, Marseille, France
Tilman Gocht
University of Tübingen, Tübingen, Germany
Joan Grimalt
Institute of Chemical and Environmental Research, Barcelona, Spain
Adam Grochowalski
Technical University Cracow, Cracow, Poland
Arno Gutleb
Centre de Recherche Public–Gabriel Lippmann, Belvaux, Luxembourg
Kimberly Hageman
University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Crispin Halsall
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Itsuki Handoh
Ehime University, Matsuyama, Japan
Kaj Mantzius Hansen
Aarhus University, Roskilde, Denmark
Sven Ove Hansson
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
Michael Z. Hauschild
Technical University of Denmark, Kgs. Lyngby, Denmark
Mark Hermanson
University Center on Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
Isabel Hilber
Agroscope Reckenholz Tänikon Research Station, Zürich, Switzerland
John Holder
University of Central Lancashire, England
Ivan Holoubek
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republik
Quinghui Huang
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Kristina Jakobsson
Lund University, Lund, Sweden
Guibin Jiang
Research Center for Eco-Environmental Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China
Kevin Jones
Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Roland Kallenborn
University Centre in Svalbard, Longyearbyen, Norway
Jamidu H.Y. Katima
University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania
Nikolas Kazantzis
Worcester Polytechnic Institute, Worcester, USA
Yong-Hwa Kim
Korea Institute of Toxicology, DaeJon, Republic of Korea
Bernard Kiremire
Makerere University, Kampala, Uganda
Nsamba Hussein Kisiki
Putra University, Serdang, Malaysia
Jana Klanova
Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republik
Jörg Klausen
MeteoSwiss, Zürich, Switzerland
Walter Klöpffer
LCA Consult & Review, Frankfurt, Germany
Anton Kocan
State Medical University Bratislava, Slovakia
Rai Kookana
Australian Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), Glen Osmon, Australia
Andreas Kortenkamp
Brunel University, Uxbridge, United Kingdom
Leif Kronberg
Åbo Akademi University, Åbo/Turku, Finland
Henrik Kylin
Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Tromsø, Norway
Gerhard Lammel
Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, Hamburg, Germany and Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republik
Lara Lamon
University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Venice, Italy
Åke Larsson
Göteborg University, Göteborg, Sweden
Anne Christine Le Gall
INERIS, Verneuil en Halatte, France
Eva Lehndorff
University of Cologne, Cologne, Germany
Robert J. Letcher
Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, and Environment Canada, Ottawa, Canada
Yi-Fan Li
Environment Canada, Toronto, Canada
Jerker Ligthart
International Chemical Secretariat, Göteborg, Sweden
Monica Lind
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Elisabetta Loffredo
University of Bari, Bari, Italy
Rainer Lohmann
University of Rhode Island, USA
Robert Loos
Institute for Environment and Sustainability EC Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy
Jorge E. Loyo-Rosales
Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
Scott Mabury
University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada
Olaf Malm
Rio de Janeiro Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Antonio Marcomini
University Ca’ Foscari of Venice, Venice, Italy
Justus Masa
Kyambogo University, Kyambogo, Uganda
Michael Matthies
University of Osnabrück, Osnabrück, Germany
Arturo Escobar Medina
National Center of Agricultural Health (CENSA), Mayabeque, Cuba
Xiang-Zhou Meng
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Sui Minghao
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Sverker Molander
Chalmers University of Technology, Göteborg, Sweden
Raul Morales
University of Chile, Santiago, Chile
Dhaval Naik
Enpro Enviro Tech and Engineers, Surat, Gujarat, India
Takeshi Nakano
Hyogo Prefecture Institute of Environmental Science, Kobe, Japan, and Kobe University, Kobe, Japan
Carla A. Ng
ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Dongjie Niu
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Jun Noda
Rakuno Gakuen University, Ebetsu, Japan
Jörg Oehlmann
Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt, Germany
Duke Okoro
Federal University of Petroleum Resources, Effurun, Nigeria
Francis Orata Omoto
Masinde Muliro University of Science and Technology, Kenya
Oladele Osibanjo
University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria
Dayana Sosa Pacheco
National Center of Agricultural Health (CENSA), Mayabeque, Cuba
Alfonso Peña Martínez
Consultorio de Toxicologia – Riesgo Quimico, Bogota, Colombia
Judith Perlinger
Michigan Technological University, Houghton, MI, USA
Valery S. Petrosyan
Lomonosov University, Moscow, Russia
Tobias Porsbring
University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden
Thomas Preuss
RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
Yanling Qiu
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Johannes Ranke
RCC, Itingen, Switzerland
Ulf Rannug
Stockholm University, Stockholm, Sweden
Lars Reutergårdh
International Chemical Secretariat, Gothenburg, Sweden
Larry W. Robertson
University of Iowa, Iowa City, USA
Ott Roots
Estonian Environmental Research Insitute, Tallinn, Estonia
Erik Ropstad
Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
Andrea Rother
University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa
Christina Rudén
Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), Stockholm, Sweden
Shinichi Sakai
Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan
Andreas Schäffer
RWTH Aachen University, Aachen, Germany
Arnold Schecter
University of Texas School of Public Health, Dallas, Texas, USA
Martin Scheringer
ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Martin Schlabach
Norwegian Institute for Air Research, Kjeller, Norway
Margret Schlumpf
University of Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Marta Schuhmacher
Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona, Spain
Megan Schwarzman
University of California, Berkeley, USA
Mrugank Shah
Enpro Enviro Tech and Engineers, Surat, Gujarat, India
Susan Shaw
Marine Environmental Research Institute (MERI), Blue Hill, USA
Staci L. Simonich
Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR, USA
Janneche Utne Skåre
National Veterinary Institute, Oslo, Norway
Klaus Günther Steinhäuser
Germany Federal Environment Agency, Dessau, Germany
Euripides Stephanou
School of Science and Engineering, Heraklion, Greece
Peter Sundin
Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden
Noriyuki Suzuki
National Institute for Environmental Studies, Tsukuba, Japan
Andrew Sweetman
Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, Lancaster, UK
Chalongkwan Tangbanluekal
Ramathibodi Hospital, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand
Shu Tao
University of Peking, Peking/Beijing, China
Joao P.M. Torres
Rio de Janeiro Federal University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
Xenia Trier
National Food Institute, Technological University of Denmark, Copenhagen, Denmark
Oyuna Tsydenova
Institute for Global Environmental Strategies, Hayama, Japan
Palina Tsytsik
Hasselt University, Hasselt, Belgium
Cornelis Johannes (Kees) van Leeuwen
KWR Watercycle Research Institute, Nieuwegein, The Netherlands
Harry Vereecken
Forschungszentrum Juelich, Jülich, Germany
Steven Verhaegen
Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, Oslo, Norway
Pham Hung Viet
Hanoi University of Science, Vietnam National University, Hanoi, Vietnam
John Vijgen
International HCH & Pesticides Association, Holte, Denmark
Natalie von Götz
ETH Zürich, Zürich, Switzerland
Frank Wania
University of Toronto at Scarborough, Toronto, Canada
Roland Weber
POPs Environmental Consulting, Göppingen, Germany
Tom Webster
Boston University School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
Jana Weiss
VU University Amsterdam, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Philip Wexler
National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, USA
Michael P. Wilson
University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, USA
Gang Yu
Tsinghua University, Beijing, China
Cornelius Zetzsch
Bayreuth University, Bayreuth, Germany
Zhiliang Zhu
Tongji University, Shanghai, China
Thomas R. Zoeller
University of Massachusetts, Amherst, USA
last update: March 2019