The creator of the Swedish plan will present at a scientific conference at Tel Aviv University: Prof. Peter Sundin suggests Israel adopt the Swedish model: "We can help you clean Israel of harmful substances"
The Swedish national plan, whose purpose is to create in this country within 20 years (or just one generation) an environment completely free of all toxic and harmful chemicals that severely harm human health and nature, will be presented this week (June 6-7) in Israel, at the first international conference on "Green Chemistry", The Porter School of Environmental Studies will be established at Tel Aviv University. To this end, the person who headed the steering team of the Swedish project, Prof. Petar Sundin, from Uppsala University, where he is now the head of the international program for science studies, will come to Israel.
The Swedish program on chemicals is one of 16 issues in the field of environmental quality that the Swedish government has marked for treatment in the coming years. The program is also a world-class pioneer - both in its scope and in the way it will be implemented, which is why it is now attracting great interest in the countries of the European Union and in some of the US states (California, Michigan). These are recently beginning to introduce, with the necessary adjustments, some of the ideas that appear in the extensive Swedish project.
In the Swedish project, four goals and six intermediate goals were set to achieve them, step by step until the year 2020. Ultimately, the intention is to significantly reduce, to "as close as possible to zero", the concentrations of harmful and toxic chemical substances, all of them man-made, compounds and toxic metals, which are currently found in the external environment (that is, in the spaces of nature), in the working environment of humans and of course also in their homes.
This refers to substances that are a proven threat and a danger to human health, which also seriously harm the variety or biological diversity of all living things. It is estimated that quite a few substances contributed and still contribute to the increase in morbidity in many types of diseases, such as autism, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, cancer (especially breast cancer), diabetes, as well as asthma and other types of allergies. The harm of different chemical substances is also evident in animals - whether they are used as food (fish, cattle) or whether they are an inseparable part of nature. Inventions of concentrations of chemical substances among animals of the first type can be a main channel for the same substances to reach humans through the food chain.
"The fact that in Israel, precisely at this time and especially in its current geopolitical situation, experts find the time and energy to hold a conference that will deal with the dangers of chemical substances, in thinking about the future, is in itself an achievement in my eyes, and in my opinion it is definitely an important international event," Prof. Sundin says candidly.
The Swedish plan, approved by the parliament in Stockholm in 2001, requires the creation of a detailed database on the relationship between danger to human health and the harmful and toxic chemical substances currently on the market or those that will be developed and produced in the future (compounds). The goal is to completely remove these substances from the human environment and replace them with friendly substances that do not pollute and are not harmful.
"This coming September," said Prof. Sundin, "the Swedish Chemicals Agency (Kemi) - a government body - will submit a second report on the progress in the stages of the project. But in the meantime, and of course we were very flattered, last December the European Union issued a binding directive to all its member states, according to which any chemical substance that is used in excess of 1 ton per year, will from now on be required to immediately evaluate and clearly mark the degree of toxicity it contains. These are at least 5,000 of the main materials and compounds used today in the various industries. Today, only 20 percent of them have information, and not always detailed and complete, regarding the degree of toxicity to the environment and to humans." By the way, according to various estimates, a total of about 80 chemical substances are used in the various industries - but the information on the subject of toxicity only exists for 1000 of them, and this is certainly an intolerable situation, if not downright dangerous.
Improving the management and treatment of chemicals - starting from the development stage, through production to marketing and trading in them - cannot be done in just one country in the world, emphasizes Prof. Sundin. For this, global cooperation is needed - both on the part of the countries and on the part of all industry parties. The manufacturers, like the importers and traders in chemicals, must assist in obtaining any required information.
One of the most effective tools for this is the Internet. The Swedes, as part of their project, established a web-based tool called PRIO that enables any manufacturer and commercial entity that deals in chemicals, as well as members of health organizations and consumer protection organizations, to evaluate the potential toxicity and risk to human health and damage to the environment, of any existing substance or one that will be produced in the future as a compound of different substances. The intention is to allow all parties access and effective use of this interactive database.
According to Sundin, today it is mainly about chemical substances that accumulate in the tissues of the body. That is, those that do not break down naturally, and thus do not actually disappear completely - what is defined as materials with "biological survival". There is some risk in all of these. Regarding 12 of this type, there are already international agreements that aim to bring about a gradual reduction until a complete cessation of their use. Among them are insecticides and herbicides, chlorinating compounds of various kinds, and also PCB - a substance that was phased out several decades ago, but can still be found in various contaminated soils and sites, and even DDT. The historical one, that in many countries they stopped using it in disinfection, yet it still exists in countries where the malaria epidemic is raging, such as in the continent of Africa and India. Traces of these and similar substances were discovered in human blood, due to their penetration into the food chain.
"In Sweden, as in Israel, emphasizes Prof. Sundin, the chemical industry is not large and most of the materials are imported. The factors of industry, import and trade, cooperate properly with the government organization managing the project. We advise and assist the developing countries as part of an international committee, in everything that concerns the proper and correct handling of toxic chemicals."
To what extent the Swedish approach was liked by the leaders of the European Union and is beginning to be practically absorbed there, says the guest, can be learned from the announcement of the British Marks and Spencer chain, from the end of May this year, according to which it will stop selling in all its stores, food items containing artificial sweeteners or colors - Food and other products for which there is concern about a negative and dangerous effect on children's health. This is, for example, aspartame, which is still found in various diet drinks.
"Already in the 60s, Swedish scientists were amazed to discover concentrations of a toxic chemical substance (PCB) in the fatty tissues of polar bears, even though this substance was no longer used in Sweden. This is how we understood that these substances migrate - and to huge distances across the globe - through the food chain. Someone in the Far East, for example, used it. His remains penetrated the ground, groundwater and river water, migrated to the sea. They penetrated the bodies of fish and all reached the arctic bears."
"Israel, Prof. Sundin pointed out, can certainly save itself a significant part of the expenses involved in the initial research and the thought processes - because we have already done it - and adopt, while making the necessary adjustments to the conditions prevailing there, the Swedish national plan. In this way, it can without a doubt be a pioneer and we will be able to help here quite a bit."
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