A group of 127 nations agreed to a UN treaty today to ban or minimize use of a "dirty dozen" toxic chemicals blamed for killing or causing diseases in people and animals around the globe.
Environment ministers or senior officials agreed to the treaty on so-called persistent organic pollutants (POPs) without a vote at a conference hall in the Swedish capital Stockholm.
They applauded after conference chairman Mr Kjell Larsson, the Swedish Environment Minister, declared the treaty adopted. The chemicals are mostly found in pesticides like DDT or produced as the by-products of incineration of toxic waste.
The poisons can linger in the environment for decades and build up in the fatty tissues of people and animals, triggering cancers and birth defects and damaging immune systems.