Disposal Disorder

The improper disposal and storage of obsolete pesticides including POPs is posing a threat to the environment and public health

By A CORRESPONDENT

The safe storage and/or disposal of obsolete pesticides - that can have a negative impact on public health- has been one of the major headaches of the government in recent years. Stockpiles of these obsolete pesticides, considered very harmful to public health and banned many years ago, have been stored in the warehouses of various government offices throughout the country.

A conference recently organized in Kathmandu to prepare the inventory of the situation of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Nepal has revealed that stockpiles of obsolete pesticides have been unsafely stored in the warehouse of government offices in various places such as Ghorahi, Biratnagar, Janakpur, Birgunj, Nepalgunj, Amlekhguj and Kathmandu .

"About 75 tons of obsolete pesticides are stored in various places throughout the country," said Jaya Ram Adhikari, National Program Coordinator of POPs enabling Activities project. "While pesticides in places like Amlekhgunj, Khumaltar and Kirtipur are safely contained, they are just stored in ordinary packaging in other places."

It is not known yet which of these are POPs and which are ordinary pesticides. Although, it is estimated that only 10 tons out of 75 tons of the obsolete pesticides are hazardous, as they are in mixed form and do not have legible labels the proper disposal of all these obsolete pesticides has become very imperative for the protection of public health.

According to the United Nations Environment program (UNEP), POPs are chemical substances that persist in the environment, bio-accumulate through the food web, and pose a risk of causing adverse effects to human health and environment.

These substances have the evidence of long-range transport to regions where they have never been used or produced and consequently pose threats to the environment of the whole globe. Therefore, the international community has now, on several occasions called for urgent global actions to reduce and eliminate releases of these chemicals.

Nepal , too, has officially shown compliance to the call of the international community. She is a signatory to the Stockholm convention, which calls for the immediate ban, withdrawal, retrieval and containment of a host of man-made poisons beginning with the worst twelve.

The worst twelve, more popular in the environmentalist's fraternity as 'dirty dozens', includes pesticides such as DDT, Hexachlorocyclohexanes (HCH), Dieldrin, Aldrin, Endrin, chlordane, heptachlor, mirex and texaphene. The other substances are industrial chemicals such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), and unwanted industrial bi-products - dioxins and furans.

Environmentalists agree that these substances should be disposed properly as soon as possible because of the high risk it poses to public health. It should at least be contained (packed in metal containers) properly.

Of the 75 tons of obsolete pesticides in Nepal , only about five tones (in Khumaltar and Kiritipur) have been contained. These pesticides were contained by the help of Green Peace, an international organization advocating for environment conservation, in 2002.

Although the government officials claim that Pesticides stored in the warehouse of Amlekhgunj are also safer as they are contained safely in metal containers, environmentalists are not ready to agree.

"Studies have shown that the normal containers are safe only for a period of five years and that they should be re-contained every five years," said environmentalist Dr. Toran Sharma. "Pesticides in Amlekhgunj were contained in 1993 and 1998 in two phases."

These pesticides were brought to Nepal since the 1950s for 'Malaria Eradication Program' through the support of various donor agencies. Some of the pesticides kept coming to Nepal even after it was banned in the western countries.

The production of all these hazardous substances but DDT has stopped globally. However, there have been speculations that DDT is still entering the Nepalese market through illegal routes. India still produces and sells DDT for the malaria control.

There has been no comprehensive study on the impact of POPs released to the environment on public health, but it is estimated that thousands of people have been affected.

"These pesticides have radioactive substances. When chlorinated compounds are mixed in air and water, it enters human body through food web," said Santosh Shrestha, environment health consultant at the National Health Research Council (NHRC). "These substances affect our nervous system, physiological system, can cause cancer and damage liver."

Meanwhile, the conference also revealed that there are about 312 gms of dioxine and furan. These gases, which are released from burning organic wastes particularly from incinerators burning hazardous wastes, are very harmful to public health according to environmentalists.

"The amount sounds small to you but each molecule of these gases can spoil your health," said Shrestha.

Likewise, the problem of PCB present in industrial chemicals was also discussed in the conference. The oil used in electric transformers that were imported before 1990 is suspected to contain PCBs. The uses of these substances were banned after 1990.

Although these transformers do not come to direct contact of public, the substance can risk public health for years if they are not disposed properly. There is a tradition of using such oils for massage in the rural as well as urban parts of the country due to lack of awareness.

According to the POPs enabling Activities project, there could be up to 90,000 liters of oil contaminated with PCB.