Latin American Passive Atmospheric Sampling Network (LAPAN) of Persistent Organic Pollutants and Emerging Contaminants.

FILLMANN G.; MIGLIORANZA K.S.B.; ONDARZA P.M.; BARRA R.; GAMBOA N.; RESTREPO B.; EGUREN G.; COSTA P.; WANIA F.

San Pablo

Simposio; 35th International Symposium on Halogenated Persistent Organic Pollutants (Dioxin2015); 2015

PUBLIC HEALTH FACULTY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF SÃO PAULO

International efforts to manage POPs include the global treaty of the Stockholm Convention (SC) on POPs (signed in 2001 and came into force in 2004) that aimed to eliminate and reduce the release of POPs into the environment. Under the SC, the Global Monitoring Plan (GMP) was implemented to facilitate the valuation of the effectiveness of the convention through monitoring of POPs in core media of air and human tissues. A guidance document for the GMP was also prepared by UNEP and recommends the use of passive air samplers for addressing data gaps on POPs. The first report of the GMP in 2009 identified significant data gaps for POPs in air in the GRULAC region (GRoUp of Latin American and Caribbean Countries). The Latin American Passive Atmospheric Sampling Network (LAPAN) has been set up to enable studies of long-term spatial and temporal trends of atmospheric contaminants on a regional scale in a sustainable, cost-effective way. It will also allow signatory countries to comply with SC demands on the identification of main sources and provide comparable data of POPs contamination. This will help to identify areas of concern and to evaluate the effectiveness of the control actions adopted by the member countries of this convention to eliminate the release of POPs to the environment. Nowadays, researchers from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Chile, Ecuador, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and Honduras are collaborating with the LAPAN network. The XAD2-based passive atmospheric sampler has the advantage of being cheaper and easier to run, making it possible to increase the present spatial and temporal resolution run by Global Atmospheric Passive Sampling (GAPS) Network at Latin America. In addition to POPs, other contaminants found in the vapor phase are being measured whenever possible (i.e. current used pesticides, PAHs, new POPs, contaminants of emerging concern).