Thank you Mr. Chairman. I wish to respectfully offer a statement on behalf of the following participating organizations in the International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) PCB Working Group, including the following NGOs:

Alaska Community Action on Toxics (USA), DASSUR-Centro de Derecho Ambiental e Integación Económica del Sur (Mexico), Indigenous Environmental Network (representing Indigenous Peoples in the U.S., Canada, and Mexico), the People's Task Force for Bases Cleanup (Philippines).

As representatives of communities affected by contamination associated with former and present military activities, we ask that the treaty acknowledge and address the POPs contamination, including PCBs and pesticides, caused by military testing, use, storage, and disposal that affects or will affect environmental and human health.

We request that the treaty hold military institutions accountable for the responsible characterization and cleanup of the POPs associated with military activities, including overseas bases. We request independently conducted inventories of the POPs associated with military activities, including the nature and extent of contamination and hazards to environmental and human health. We request full disclosure of the nature and extent of the contamination as a fundamental community right-to-know, in order to advance in the universalisation of the public right to access environmental information.

Minority, Indigenous, and economically disadvantaged communities are disproportionately affected by military uses of POPs. We seek environmental justice for these and all communities affected by military contamination. We support the statements in the IPEN platform as they relate to military contaminated sites as follows:

ú "realistic action should be taken to destroy obsolete stocks of the listed POPs and remediate environmental reservoirs;" and ú "for obsolete POPs stocks and environmental POPs reservoirs, identify, collect, and destroy the POPs by means that do not themselves cause hazards, generate POPs or otherwise threaten or injure health and/or the environment."

We ask that the treaty address the full public health implications of military contamination of lands, waters, and foods, including the traditional foods essential to the physical and cultural well-being of Indigenous Peoples. Where uncertainty exists in such negative effects, the precautionary principle shall be observed in all stages of decision-making.

U.S. Department of State Fails to Fulfill Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright's Committment on July 14, 1999 to Consult American Indians and Alaska Natives in the Shaping of Foreign Policy When It Affects Treaty Rights, Health and Resources of Indigenous Peoples.

Send an Urgent Fax to U.S. Secretary Madeleine K. Albright before Friday, September 3rd!

In just a few days, the U.S. and more than 100 governments will meet in Geneva, Switzerland to continue international negotiations toward a treaty meant to reduce or eliminate persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Indigenous Peoples from throughout the world including North America Indigenous delegates will be participating along with over 50 other non-governmental organizations (NGO's).

POPs are a class of chemicals that includes highly toxic dioxins. These inadvertent by-products of waste incineration and other industrial processes have become common pollutants around the world. They have made headline news in Europe in recent months at the center of a food contamination scare, but are also a problem in the U.S. In fact, most Americans now carry enough dioxins in their bodies to cause serious health problems, including cancer and immune system disruption.

This is an issue that disproportionately affects Indigenous Peoples of the U.S., especially those tribes that still maintain subsistence culture. High levels of dioxin poisoning have been found in fish populations in the traditional territories of the Yakama (Northwest), Penobscots (Maine), and many tribes within the Great Lakes water basin region and villages in Alaska. Indigenous Peoples already have weakened immune systems from diabetes and alcoholism causing more concern for greater health risks. The United States nor any of its federal agencies have never consulted the tribes and villages of the U.S. on it's policy position concerning dioxins and other persistent organic pollutants (POPs).

The United States has an opportunity to take a leadership role in moving the world toward reducing and eventually eliminating man-made sources of toxic dioxins. But in a Department of State briefing last week, the U.S. delegation on POPs put forward its proposal for treaty language going into negotiations in Geneva next week. As outlined, the U.S. position on dioxin (or more generally, the by-product POPs) is extremely weak. Under intense pressure from industry lobbying groups including the Chemical Manufacturers Association and the Chlorine Chemistry Council, the U.S. State Department plans to propose removing existing language from the draft treaty, and replacing it with language that would require countries ONLY to develop action plans for dioxin and other by-products. While action plans are important and necessary, they are not a substitute for real action. There would be NO obligation to actually implement these action plan strategies or to achieve any emission reductions. Without bold steps to reduce dioxin emissions in all countries, we would be left with a treaty that takes no action at all on dioxin!

There is still time to influence U.S. negotiators before they put their proposals on the table in Geneva. Representatives of environmental and public health groups from the U.S. and 30 other countries will be in Geneva. Representatives with the Indigenous Environmental Network will be there. But what is really needed is pressure from concerned citizens and tribes at home.

Call, fax or e-mail a letter to Secretary of State Madeleine K. Albright before the close of business, Friday, September 3, 1999. Send a copy of the letter via fax to the lead Department of State negotiator, Brookes Yaeger, at his hotel in Geneva. The fax number of his hotel in Geneva is listed below. Tell them that an action plan without any action is no plan at all. If you like, use the attached sample letter - but be sure to personalize your message for greater impact, and include your full name and address. Your letter, e-mail or faxes sent this week from the States will be waiting for the head of the U.S. delegation, Brookes Yeager, when he arrives in Geneva over the weekend for negotiations that start on Monday morning. Just 100 faxes calling for real action to eliminate sources of dioxin will make a powerful statement at a key moment in the negotiations!

THE UNITED STATES - DEPARTMENT OF STATE HAS HEARD THE VOICE OF INDUSTRY-NOW THEY MUST HEAR THE VOICES OF CONCERNED TRIBES, NATIVE ORGANIZATIONS, TRIBAL CITIZENS AND HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENTAL SUPPORT GROUPS ACROSS THE COUNTRY! WE DON'T WANT THE CHEMICAL INDUSTRY TO WRITE THE FIRST GLOBAL TREATY ON DIOXIN. MADELEINE K. ALBRIGHT MUST RESPECT HER COMMITTMENT TO CONSULT WITH INDIGENOUS PEOPLES OF THE U.S. AND FOR HER STATEMENT FOR INCREASED RECOGNITION AND RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AFFECTED BY MAINSTREAM FOREIGN POLICY ISSUES (statement made July 14, 1999 to U.S. Tribal Leaders, find at:

SEND YOUR FAXES, LETTERS OR EMAIL ON OR BEFORE SEPTEMBER 3RD!

IMPORTANT: Because of Labor Day holiday, we're asking you send faxes on or before this Friday.

For more information on the issues of POPs, dioxin, and the UN Treaty Meeting on POPs:

http://irtc.unep.ch/pops
http://www.psr.org/IPEN-Homepage.htm
http://www.essential.org/cchw/campaign/campaign.html
http://www.epa.gov/nceawww/dioxin.htm
http://www.greenpeace.org/toxics.html
http://www.worldwildlife.org/toxics
http://www.ienearth.org

FAX

To:

Madeleine K. Albright, Secretary of State Fax: (202) 647-7120
cc:
Brooks Yeager, U.S. Department of State, c/o Intercontinental Hotel, Geneva, Switzerland Fax: 011 41 22 919 38 38
Trigg Talley, U.S. Department of State, Ofc of Environmental Policy Fax: (202) 647-5947

From: [ENTER YOUR NAME, ORGANIZATION OR TRIBE HERE]
Re: POPs Treaty/U.S. Position on Dioxin
Date: September 3, 1999


Dear Secretary of State, Madeleine K. Albright:

On July 14, 1999, you established rapport with American Indian and Alaska Native leaders by making a commitment to Indigenous Peoples as summarized in your quote, "As Secretary of State, my commitment is to ensure that this Department consults and works in good faith with you, just as I know you want to do with us. Because my mission is a foreign policy for America that reflects the aspirations of all the peoples in our midst."

I am writing to express my concern about the proposed U.S. position on dioxin and other by-product POPs in international negotiations taking place next week in Geneva toward a treaty on reducing or eliminating persistent organic pollutants (POPs). This is the third treaty making session of the United Nations Environmental Programme's International Negotiating Committee (INC3) scheduled for September 6-11, 1999. As you know, dioxin is a pollutant of particular concern around the world, including in the U.S., where 46 states have issued advisories against eating local fish because of dioxin contamination. The average American adult receives 300 to 500 times the daily "safe" dose of dioxin through diet, and breastfeeding infants receive 50 times that amount. Dioxin has been linked to serious health problems, including cancer, immune system disruption, and reproductive and developmental problems.

I am concerned about the elevated impact and greater health risk that dioxin contamination has upon our American Indian/Alaska Native population. Those tribes that still maintain subsistence and land-based culture are in great danger if action isn't taken that either reduces or totally eliminates dioxin emissions. Dioxin and other by products of POPs impacts almost all tribes that hunt, fish, gather, and that maintain livestock and agricultural practices. It is unfortunate the U.S. Department of State didn't consult with tribal leaders on this important issue that concerns the healthy future of tribal nations and the inherent right of tribes to practice traditional culture.

The United States has an opportunity to take a leadership role in moving the world toward reducing and eventually eliminating man-made sources of toxic dioxins. But the Department of State's proposal that countries develop national action plans without reduction targets and timetables falls far short of this goal. As intergovernmental negotiations next week, please reconsider this proposal.

If it is to be effective, a global POPs treaty must require more than plans for action - it must require real action to eliminate sources of dioxin. The U.S. should propose treaty language that emphasizes pollution prevention and a gradual phase-out of dioxin-producing materials and technologies. Emission reductions should be required where possible, and as soon as feasible, with the ultimate aim of elimination. This issue is a life and death issue to many of the Indigenous Peoples within the Arctic circle, the greater part of North America and throughout the world.



Thank you for your attention to this very important issue.

Sincerely,