THE pollution coming from states and businesses causes more worldwide deaths regarding COVID-19according to an environmental report by United States which was released today and calls for “immediate and ambitious action” to ban certain toxic chemicals.
The report notes that contamination with pesticides, plastics and e-waste causes widespread human rights abuses as well as at least nine million deaths a year and that the issue is largely ignored.
The coronavirus pandemic has caused nearly 5.9 million deaths, according to the Worldometer database.
“Current approaches to managing the risks posed by pollution and toxic substances are apparently failing to result in widespread violations of the right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment,” concluded the report’s author, UN Special Rapporteur Dave.
The report, which is due to be presented to the United Nations Security Council next month, which has declared the environment a human right, was posted on the Council’s website today.
It calls for a ban on perfluorinated and polyfluorinated alkylated substances (PFAS) – used in household products, such as non-stick cookware, which have been linked to cancer and have been described as “lifelong chemicals” because they do not dissolve easily.
The report also proposes clearing all contaminated areas and, in extreme cases, possible relocation of so-called “sacrifice zones” of affected communities, many of whom are poor, marginalized or indigenous.
This term, originally used to describe nuclear test zones, has been extended to include any severely contaminated site designated uninhabited due to climate change.
Michelle Bachelet, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has described environmental threats as the biggest human rights challenge in the world, and human rights abuses are being used as an argument in an increasing number of climate and environmental cases.
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