China has made significant progress in combating persistent organic pollutants (POPs), successfully eliminating 29 types of such harmful substances , China's Minister of Ecology and Environment, Huang Rongqiu, said.
The relevant statement was published by the Xinhua News Agency.
POPs characterized by persistence in the environment, the potential for bioaccumulation and the ability to move over long distances , have a negative impact on human health and the ecological environment.
To prevent POP pollution, the international community concluded the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, which entered into force on May 17, 2004 and began to be applied in China on November 11 of the same year.
According to Huang Rongqiu, eliminating 29 types of POPs, China effectively stopped the production and use of all such pollutants specified in the convention that entered into force in the country, thereby preventing the production and release into the environment of hundreds of thousands of tons of POPs every year.
For example, the intensity of dioxin emissions in flue gases from enterprises in key industries in China has decreased significantly. After reaching a peak in 2012, the total amount of dioxin emissions into the atmosphere gradually decreased, which led to a corresponding decrease in the concentration of the pollutant in the atmospheric air.
At this time, the amount of dioxins received from food in the Chinese population is on average lower the norm specified in the recommendations of the World Health Organization, and this volume continues to decrease.
Huang Rongqiu noted that China has made significant contributions to global environmental management and sustainable development.
For according to him, in the future, China will continue to give priority to public health protection, adhere to international commitments on POP control, and effectively manage the environmental risks associated with POPs and other new pollutants.
“China will cooperate with the international community and join forces to create a better future free of POPs,” he added.