The fate of a toxic chemical is yet to be decided in India, despite 90 nations voting for a global ban on its usage. Pentachlorophenol (PCP), a persistent organic pollutant (POP) which is mainly used as a wood preservative in India has been banned completely at the Conference of Parties (COP) 7 of the Stockholm convention held earlier this month in Geneva. Exposure to PCP is even linked to certain types of cancers.

But according to the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN), a global network of 700 organisations and advocacy groups “the historic vote came at the combined meetings of the Basel, Rotterdam, and Stockholm Conventions - which usually make decisions by consensus - after India repeatedly blocked action.”

India has long banned its use in agriculture and leather industry precisely because of its toxicity. But experts who attended the meeting said there has to be a complete ban for two reasons—POPs invariably enter the food chain and the environment because they are persistent in nature. The other reason is unless there is a complete ban it’s difficult to ensure that people are not using the chemical for other purposes.

“During the meeting, India surprisingly rejected the findings of the Stockholm Convention’s own scientific expert committee in which they participated. Ninety-four countries voted in favour of global prohibition of pentachlorophenol; two opposed; and eight countries abstained,” IPEN stated.

But India was also being rushed in to voting for a ban by member nations even without having an opportunity to register the issues it had with the expert committee’s report. “Yes we opposed the ban. There are two reasons for it. One is that we had pointed several scientific infirmities in the report. We had suggested that they go back, review it and bring it to the next meeting. But EU along with the African nations made a majority and voted us out. The other reason is we need alternatives. We wanted to take the industry on board to come up with proper alternatives which can be as effective in humid regions,” Shashi Shekhar, special secretary, ministry of environment, forests and climate change (MoEFCC) told TOI. He said that as of now Pentachlorophenol’s use is permitted only for wood but they are not sure if it’s being used elsewhere too.

“This is quite unfortunate that for the first time in history Stockholm Convention banned a chemical based on voting rather than on consensus. Though India has banned the use of Pentachlorphenol in pesticides and leather, it could have provided more evidence as per the convention’s obligations to get exemptions for its use. The use of PCP needs to be strictly controlled to minimize the exposure to the environment and human health. Canada, a party to the convention was one of the biggest users of PCP and had sought exemption for its use but it also has very strict regulations in place to minimize the exposure to the human health,” said Piyush Mohapatra of Toxics Link who also attended the meeting.

In India about 1,800 tonnes per year of Na-PCP, a salt of PCP is being produced in the state of Maharashtra and West Bengal, India is the leading exporter of Na-PCB globally. In Sri Lanka all uses of PCP has been prohibited since 1994. In Thailand, PCP has been banned for agricultural use since 1995, public health uses since 2000 and industrial use since 2001. In 1997, China restricted the production and use of Na-PCP but is using it as a wood preservative like India but it accepted the ban this time. EU and others have also long prohibited its use.