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26 | POLLUTION AND HEALTH

“Thanks to this agreement, which recognises the “It’s all systems go”, confirmed Jean-François
health risk of plastic waste, the Parties have a series Ghiglione, who sees potential for action in the ecolo-
of legal tools, guidance and even technical assistan- gical crisis, and a real opportunity in this interdiscipli-
ce to leverage the resources, interest and expertise nary discussion.
of companies, governments, universities and civil
society”, explains Kei Ohno Woodall from the Ge- Research methods are emerging, such as digi-
neva offices of the Basel, Rotterdam and Stockholm tal experimentation in comparative environmental
Convention Secretariat. The Stockholm Convention law, presented by the PhD student Odeline Billant,
has added new persistent toxic additives used in for the regulation of plastic bags across the Atlantic
plastics which spread in the sea to the list of hazar- region, which should lead to new tools adapted to
dous products. ocean-specific issues.

Whilst plastic pollution of the oceans has the oppor-
AT ALL LEVELS tunity to be better managed by environmental law, the
law remains patchy. The panel’s researchers warned
This notable progress reflects international momen- of “overriding uncertainty regarding the regulatory
tum seen at national, regional and European level, scope of a future global agreement” (Raphaël Maurel,
with Europe “a key part of the battle”, insists Eve Truil- lecturer in public law at the University of Burgundy),
hé, Director of CERIC at the University of Aix-Mar- as well as the need for more transparent regulation of
seille. The lawyer presented work done within the en- international plastic waste trade (PhD student Daria
vironmental legal clinic, which tends to measure the Vasilevskaia from the University of Aix-Marseille).
relevance of rules adopted by companies or institu-
tions to combat this pollution. Other panel members
underlined the importance of involvement by all parts
of society, as the only way to relay legal standards.
Adélie Pomade, lecturer at the University of Western
Brittany, listed a certain number of non-legal tools
which allow the incorporation or even pre-empting of
legal texts.

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