Toxics Action Placing Rainwater Gauge in Rotterdam

In February and March Greenpeace collects at 47 locations in the Netherlands rainwater, among these locations are 23 secondary schools. Part of the rainwater study is an educational program at these schools about toxics in our environment. Greenpeace also collects rainwater near chemical production and manufacturing sites, like Shinetsu and ExxonMobil. There are also three foreign measuring points. The study focuses on the so-called POP's (Persistent Organic Pollutants). These toxics can be found in the consumer products we daily use. POP's do not decompose readily or quickly in the environment and they cover long distances in the environment and can be found in household dust, but also at the North Pole. They accumulate in the fatty of humans and animals and are often hormone disrupting. TNO (Netherlands Organisation for Applied Scientific Research) will study the presence of POP's in rainwater. Greenpeace wants a ban on the production and usage of these toxics. They urge the industry to change to non-toxic alternatives.