Mexicans, Americans and Canadians share one coastline in common. A new publication, Pacific Currents, celebrates the diversity of that coastline and visually demonstrates the rich marine life between Baja California and British Columbia. Edited by Michael Small at the Canadian Embassy in Mexico City and co-sponsored by the CEC, Pacific Currents is the offspring of a stunning photographic exhibit of the same name, now traveling across North America. The exhibit was inaugurated in Oaxaca last October during the second annual meeting of the CEC Council of Ministers, and then again in Mexico City in February.

Copies of this publication are available at the CEC Secretariat.

PCBs, which are no longer manufactured in North America but still used in all three countries, were assigned priority status at a time when the issues surrounding their storage, cross-border shipment and eventual destruction are of particular concern. A regional action plan on PCBs will help the NAFTA partners learn from nacec.each other’s experience and combine efforts to resolve these and other issues affecting the three countries.

A working group of six high-ranking officers, two from nacec.each country, was established to implement Resolution 95-5. It met in Mexico City in December 1995 and again in Washington in January 1996. At the December meeting, led by Dr. Cristina Cortinas de Nava, the working group focused on selecting three additional candidates from nacec.the 12 persistent organic chemicals listed by the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP), as well as certain heavy metals. The December seminar also paid special attention to planning and promoting public participation in the development of the regional plans and to ensuring that public opinion is included in the working group's final recommendations, which will be submitted to the Council of Ministers for approval in December 1996.

The CEC’s work with these four substances is taking place at a time when toxic pollutants and heavy metals are being targeted for global action. The efforts of the CEC will provide a regional framework capable of coordinating activities complementary to these global discussions, and will help NAFTA countries implement global commitments. CEC efforts also serve as an example of regional cooperation.

Dr. A.L. Hamilton, head of the CEC’s science division, coordinated the initial project that led to Resolution 95-5 and is working with the DDT, chlordane, mercury, and general criteria sub-groups created by the CEC. Lisa Nichols, also of the CEC Secretariat, is working with the PCB sub-group.