Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

Comment on this article   Multilateral cooperation on hazardous substances and wastes has been subject to limited analysis compared to many other environmental regimes, despite the fact that states and intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) have engaged in technical collaboration and policy-making on these issues for over a century. As a result, there are compelling empirical and analytical reasons for international relations scholars to pay more attention to the politics and management of hazardous substances and wastes. One of the first international legal instruments addressing dangerous substances was the St. Petersburg Declaration adopted in 1868. This agreement, signed by several leading powers at the time including Austria–Hungary, France, Russia, Persia, Prussia, and the United Kingdom, banned the use of “fulminating or inflammable substances” in military projectiles weighing less than 400 grams ( Shaw 1983 ). The St. Petersburg Declaration, however, is primarily part of humanitarian law, rather than addressing environmental and human health aspects associated with hazardous substances. After World War I, the International Labour Organization (ILO) started working on the management of harmful substances. In 1919, its first year of existence, ILO issued several nonbinding recommendations on the importance of reducing workers’ exposure to, for example, lead and white phosphorus. ... log in or subscribe to read full text