Pesticide Dumping in Eastern Europe
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RTK-NET Entry Jan 25 12:30:14 1993 ======================================================== PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES SERVICE ======================================================== PESTICIDE DUMPING IN EASTERN EUROPE January 20, 1993 Around 12,000 tons of unwanted pesticides, buried in various sites around Poland, are an "ecological bomb" waiting to explode, according to a report recently submitted to the Polish Ministry of Agriculture and Food by the Polish Plant Protection Institute. The problem is so dangerous that it requires "rapid and fundamental actions" and expert knowledge for it to be resolved. When it became apparent in the early 1970s that the centrally planned economy was overproducing certain pesticides, an attempt was made to solve the problem by burying the surplus in "tombs" (concrete-lined bunkers). There are now some 200 officially registered tombs with a capacity of 6,000 tons. It is believed that the real number of tombs is considerably higher - around 1,000 tombs containing 12,000 tons of pesticides. The Polish Plant Protection Council recommends immediate assessment of water and soil contamination in places of storage for unwanted pesticides, and action to protect the environment if serious contamination is found. The report also urges studies on suitable means of destroying onsolete pesticides. used containers, and other pesticide waste. Meanwhile, fears of a major pesticide waste disposal problem in the former East Germany are growing. Around 3,000 tons of pesticides lost their registrations with German unification or when the transition period expired at the end of 1992. The old stocks are lying around on the premises of former agrochemical depots, on farms themselves, and at three northern area wholesalers. Experts have forecast that the cost of clearing the stocks from one state alone will be at least DM750,000 (US$500,000), but there is still little idea of how it will actually be carried out. One German firm has tried to solve their waste disposal problem by exporting outdated pesticides to Albania, calling the shipments "humanitarian aid." Schmidt-Cretan of Hanover, Germany claims that the products, banned for use in Germany because they contain mercury, dioxins and lindane, are for active use and are not waste. This claim has been rejected by the Albanian Agriculture Ministry, as the chemicals had already passed their expiration date, thus making them waste In addition, some of these products, currently held in storage, are banned in Albania as well as the European Community. A Greenpeace toxic waste expert estimates that disposing of such waste in Germany costs DM5,000-11,000 (US$6,600 to US$18,260) a ton. The company has refused to take back more than 400 tons of the pesticides seized so far. Source: Agrow, November 6 and December 4, 1992. For more information, contact Greenpeace Germany, Votsetzen 53, D- 2000 Hamburg 11, Germany,; telephone 49 40 3111860 This information is provided by the Pesticide Action Network North America Updates Service (PANUPS), a pesticide-related news service from the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) North American Regional Center. Updates are posted weekly on EcoNet in "en.pesticides," "en.agriculture" and other appropriate electronic conferences, and distributed worldwide across the APC computer network. PANUPS is also posted in the Public Conference on RTK NET, on GeoNet in the PESTICIDES-BBS bulletin board, on FidoNet in The Ecology Network, on the Sustainable Agriculture Network (SANET) on BitNet, and on PENpages agriculture information service at Penn State Univ. Hard-copy compilations of these updates are also available. For more information about PAN activities and publications, contact: PAN NA RC, 965 Mission Street #514, San Francisco, CA 94103. Tel: (415) 541-9140. Fax: (415) 541-9253. Telex: 156283472 PANNA. E-mail address on EcoNet: [email protected]