DISPOSING OF PESTICIDES
I N THE THIRD WORLD During the past several decades many developing Third World countries received thousands of tons of pesticides as donations from the developed countries to enhance food production and combat anticipated crop diseases. Although wellintentioned, in many cases the pesticide donations exceeded the true need of the countries. The excess pesticides-aging, obsolete, and dangerous after years of neglect and poor storage conditions-are posing a serious environmental, health, and safety crisis, especially in Africa, an EPA official told the Fourth Chemical Congress of North America, held recently in New York.
By Vinod Join Janice Jensen-a pesticide chemist at EPA's Office of Pesticide Programs-told the meeting that in North Africa alone, some 10,000 metric tons of pesticides, including banned organochlorines, have been earmarked for disposal. Some of the affected countries are Sudan, Soma-
Prbcis articles are reports of meetings of unusual significance. international or national developments of environmental importance, significant public policy developments, and related items.
226 Environ. Sci. Technol., VoI. 26, No. 2, 1992
lia, Kenya, Morocco, and Mozambique in Africa (Figure 1) and Yemen i n Asia. The problem is exacerbated because many of the affected countries lack the necessary state-of-the-art technologies for the pesticide disposal, Jensen said. Dieldrin and BHC [a hexachlorobenzene derivative]-donated in the late 1960s to control migratory pests such as the desert locust and now considered obsolete by the iuternational community-make up the bulk of the current disposal problem, according to Jensen. Jensen deplored the practice among some developed countries of linking pesticide donations with the purchase of other sought-after
0013-936W92/0926-226$03.00/0 0 1992 American Chemical Society
commodities. She alleged that although many Western donors are getting better at assessing the pesticide needs of the developing nations, Japan in particular continues to export excessive amounts of pesticides and to link them to exports of other goods such as vehicles. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), the major donor for the US. government, has for all practical purposes banned export of obsolete pesticides to the Third World as well as
their linkage with the sale of other commodities. Since 1978 the United States has mandated that exported pesticides used i n USAID projects must be registered in the United States and pass a clearing process at USAID that ensures the recipient countries are informed of the status of the pesticides. Jensen presented more than a dozen cases of pesticide disposal problems, each illustrating the underlying culprits: excessive donations, inappropriate packaging or
labeling of the donated products, poor storage conditions, and the lack of training about the pesticides among users. The cases included unprepared workers in Yemen who experienced acute poisoning from a donation of poor-quality ULV fenitrothion; shipment of 100,000 liters of unlabeled diazinon in 1988 to Ethiopia; and loss of a third of Mozambique's pesticide stocks in a fire at a warehouse that contained poorly stored fungicides (see photo).
FIGURE 1
Metric tons of pesticides disposed of in Africa
1 Disposal
problem, not quantified
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Prospectus for pesticide usage Commenting on what may lie ahead for the developing countries during a joint press conference with Jensen, Bhushan Mandava, a pesticide chemist and a consultant with the Washington-based Science Regulatory Services International, predicted that because of the rapidly expanding populations and the need to produce additional food, the use of pesticides will continue to grow in most Asian and African countries. He projected an 11% increase in the overall share of pesticide usage in the developing countries from the current 24% to 35% by the year 2000. “Pesticides are responsible for about a 30% increase worldwide in food production,” Mandava pointed out, and predicted that the developing countries will continue to view pesticides as essential for increasing food production. The developed countries will continue to supply much of the pesticides in the Third World, Mandava noted. Approaches to solutions “There are two different problems that need to be dealt with avoiding the problem in the future, and disposal of the existing stocks,” Jensen said. “I am optimistic about the first, but less so about the latter where it is not clear who will take responsibility to get rid of the pesticides,” she added. According to Jensen, to avoid future pesticide disposal and management problems, there is a strong need for a better dialogue between the pesticide donors and the recipient countries. “A protocol that sets responsibilities for each party to ensure proper formulation conditions and storage stability for the pesticides, and which provides for adequate training in safe pesticide usage and disposal, should be established between the countries involved.” Jensen mentioned that EPA developed the first draft of the pest-management guidelines for the countries belonging to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD],an organization representing the major donor of pesticides to developing countries. The responsibility for the disposal of existing excess pesticides stocks, according to Jensen, should be a “joint responsibility” of the pesticide donors and the manufacturers. But in some instances, solu226 Environ. ki.Technol., Vol. 26, No. 2. 1992
Mozambique pesticide warehouse that burned in 1985: cause wos poorly stored fungicides which spontaneously combusted when wet.
tions based on the active participation of the international organizations, such as the United Nations, and concerned parties can be used to deal with the problem, Jensen said. For example, Royal DutchlShell cooperated with USAID, the German technical agency GTZ, and the government of Niger to remove stocks of the organochlorine dieldrin. The pesticide was taken in special tanks overland to Togo and then shipped to Holland where it was burned in special hazardous waste incinerators. Two years ago, USAID helped Pakistan dispose of 6000 tons of pesticides in a cement kiln, in response to a request from the Pakistani government, Jensen said. In May 1989 the United Nations Environment Programme and later the Food and Agricultural Organization approved and adopted the terms of the “Principle of Prior Informed Consent”-a concept arising from the concerns of the member nations about importation of highly toxic or banned pesticides and their management problems in the Third World countries. The principle requires member nations to record on an international register the pesticides they are willing to buy and those they refuse; chemicals that have been refused may not be shipped to countries that object. Education, training needs According to Mandava, who has traveled to several Asian countries as a United Nations consultant, education and training could play a key role in solving the pesticide management and disposal problem. “The developing countries in Asia lack two things: adequate pesticide
supplies and information about their safe use. The majority of people in the developing countries do not know how to use pesticides,” Mandava said. Pointing out the UN efforts in this direction, Mandava mentioned “Educating the Educators,” a UN program that aims to educate the government officials responsible for teaching the end-users of pesticides in 10 Southeast Asian countries. Alternative disposal technologies Several new technologies to dispose of pesticides in developing countries are in the pipeline, according to Jensen, but not yet available. Among the new technologies: environmentally friendly biodegradable pesticides, catalytic reduction of pesticides, and portable incinerators. Conclusions Something must be done soon, Jensen said. “If we wait any longer, there will be serious problems. Some of these chemicals have been sitting for 20 years and are starting to deteriorate, and the longer we wait, the more complicated and expensive solutions become,” she added. Vinod K . Join is a staff writer at the American Chemical Society News Service and writes about science ood science policy issues. Heh0saPh.D. in physic01 chemist~ from the University of New Orleans ond is completing an M.A. degree in science technology and public policy at the George Washington University.
