Levels and Implications of Persistent Organic Pollutants and other contaminants in South Africa

The lack of knowledge concerning organic pollutants in South Africa, within the context of the Stockholm Convention (SC) on POPs, is the reason for the thrust of this application. The three partners, the Norwegian School for Veterinary Science (project ow ner), Norwegian Institute of Air Research, and the North-West University in South Africa, form the consortium for this project. Through combining existing knowledge, expertise, capacity and resources, we aim to investigate the presence and levels, and de termine the preliminary risks associated with selected persistent organic pollutants in soil, bird eggs and human milk from the Vaal Triangle, the most industrialised area in South Africa. Existing data indicates high levels of some of the pollutants, whi le for others it will be the first such analysis. By extracting the samples in SA (after training of two NWU persons in Norway), and doing most of the analysis in Norway, we aim to optimise the number of samples that can be done, and generate sufficient knowledge for preliminary risks assessments, identification of priorities and avenues for further investigations, and to contribute towards the SC aims for both countries.