UN Stockholm Convention concludes that only certain lower brominated diphenylethers are POPs

05-14-2009: The 4th meeting of the Convention of the Parties (COP4) of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) decided on 8 May to list only certain lower brominated substances as POPs. These substances were components of the legacy commercial brominated flame retardants Penta-BDE and Octa-BDE.

The Stockholm Convention is an international agreement of the United Nations Environmental Programme. Its remit is the identification, evaluation and elimination of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from the environment. The COP is the highest political level of the Convention.

COP4 (4-8 May 2009) took the decision to amend the Convention for the first time. The Parties agreed to the addition of nine ‘new’ POPs. The additional substances include certain components [1] of the legacy commercial products Penta-BDE and Octa-BDE.

The nomination and scientific evaluation did not find any other constituents of these commercial mixtures to be POPs nor to be precursors to the formation of POPs.

Commercial Penta-BDE was mainly used in Flexible Polyurethane (PUR) Foam. Commercial Octa-BDE was a flame retardant mainly used in electronic and electrical equipment. BSEF member companies that made commercial Penta-BDE and commercial Octa-BDE stopped producing these substances voluntarily in 2004 or earlier.

[1] Those Tetra-BDEs and Penta-BDEs found in commercial Penta-BDE and those Hexa-BDEs and Hepta- BDEs found in commercial Octa-BDE.