¡¡  GENEVA, June 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Delegates from governments, donor agencies and commercial firms agreed here Thursday that public and private sectors should promote cooperation in eradicating PCBs, one of 12 highly toxic chemicals targeted for elimination by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).

    PCBs, or polychlorinated biphenyls, are a class of synthetic organic chemicals that are among the most widespread pollutants found worldwide in air, water, soil, food and fatty tissues of humans and animals.

    "The financial and technical challenges of eliminating PCBs from the planet will require a vigorous partnership between the public and private sectors," said Executive Director Klaus Toepferof the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), under whose auspices the Stockholm Convention was adopted.

    "While international donors and national governments will set priorities and invest tens of millions of dollars, commercial firms have the expertise and technologies to perform much of the actual clean-up work," he said.

    The international meeting on June 9-10, which is sponsored by UNEP, offers donors and PCB-related industries the opportunity to discuss upcoming needs for PCB management and disposal, international policy framework, logistical issues and available capacities for PCB storage, management, transport and disposal.

    The Stockholm Convention, which entered into force on May 17, 2004, gives governments until 2025 to phase out "in-place equipment" containing PCBs, as long as the equipment is maintainedin a way that prevents leaks. It also grants another three years to ensure the environmentally sound management of PCB-contaminatedwastes.

    Due to their low flammability, PCBs have been used extensively in electrical equipment such as transformers and large capacitors employed in power lines and major facilities. They have also been used as additives in paint, carbonless copy paper, and plastics.

    Many hundreds of thousands of tons of PCBs have been commercially manufactured since 1929. PCBs' annual world production peaked in the late 1960s at close to 60,000 tons.

    Although production is now banned under the Convention, PCBs continue to pose a threat to human health and the environment because of the wide array of PCB-containing electrical equipment still in service. Tons of wastes containing or contaminated by PCBs are also being held at temporary storage sites, particularly in developing countries.

    In addition, large quantities of PCBs have been discharged into soils, rivers and lakes over the years.

    Large numbers of people have been exposed to PCBs through food contamination. Consumption of PCB-contaminated rice oil in Japan in 1968 and in Taiwan in 1979 caused pigmentation of nails and mucous membranes and swelling of the eyelids, along with fatigue, nausea, and vomiting. Enditem