13 May 2002

Workshop on toxic substances in Samoa

6:53 am on 13 May 2002

A workshop to assess the volume and impact of persistent toxic substances in the Pacific is being held in Samoa this week.

The three-day meeting in Apia has been organised by the South Pacific Regional Environment Programme and the United Nations Environmental Programme.

Persistent toxic substances are characterised as being difficult to breakdown in the environemnt and can accumulate in thefate cells of people with related cancer, birth and developmental defects.