"GENEVA -- Representatives from 127 governments have agreed to add endosulfan to the United Nations' list of persistent organic pollutants to be eliminated worldwide. The action puts the widely-used pesticide on track for elimination from the global market by 2012.

The decision was among more than 30 measures taken by Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants to strengthen global action against POPs at their meeting in Geneva last week.

The governments agreed to list endosulfan in Annex A to the Stockholm Convention, with specific exemptions. When the amendment enters into force in one year, endosulfan will become the 22nd POP to be listed under the Convention.

Endosulfan is an organochlorine insecticide used on crops worldwide, mainly on cotton, coffee and tea. Endosulfan acts as an endocrine disruptor, causing reproductive and developmental damage in both humans and animals."