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PANUPS: Mexico Plans DDT Phaseout



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                         P A N U P S
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                   Pesticide Action Network 
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July 29, 1996

Planned DDT Phaseout in Mexico

The Mexican government plans to phase out DDT in malaria 
control over the next 10 years in favor of an integrated pest 
management (IPM) approach, according to Mexican officials 
speaking at a recent international meeting in Manila on 
persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Mr. Ruben Sanchez, a 
representative of Mexico's Ministry of Health, stated that 
the Mexican government is prioritizing reducing 
organochlorine pesticides including DDT because of concerns 
about persistence and bioaccumulation. This policy follows a 
1990 decision that eliminated all uses except for anti-
malaria campaigns. Since 1990, Mexico has used approximately 
3000 tons of DDT per year in these campaigns.

According to a recent report in Environmental Health 
Perspectives, Mexico is the leading DDT user in Latin America 
(Brazil, which is the next highest user, applies half as much 
-- approximately 1250 tons). DDT is currently manufactured in 
Mexico at one plant in the city of Salamanca, but it is not 
the only source of this pesticide for the country. According 
to Mr. Sanchez, Mexico imported 27 tons of the pesticide 
between 1990 and 1996, all of it from the U.S. (see PANUPS, 
March 25, 1996). He explained that the government does not 
allow DDT imports from China or India due to high levels of 
contaminants in DDT from these countries. 

In the past six years Mexico has also exported DDT to 
Colombia, Guatemala, Panama and the United States. Registered 
exports have ranged from more than 500 tons in 1990 to one 
ton in 1993 -- since then, exports have grown to 21 tons in 
1995.  

Officials intend to reduce DDT use by 80% of volume by 2001 
and to eliminate its use by 2006. The World Health 
Organization still prescribes DDT for malaria control, but 
participants at a recent meeting of health experts from 
Canada, Mexico, U.S. and the Pan American Health Organization 
recommended that Mexico's malaria control program should now 
focus on finding alternatives to DDT. Malaria was among the 
top ten causes of death in Mexico in the 1950s, but there 
have been no deaths attributed to the disease since 1982, 
according to Mr. Sanchez. 

In order to reduce reliance on DDT, the Mexican government 
will improve efforts to treat people infected with the 
disease, monitor changes in the quantity and location of 
malaria cases and eliminate breeding sites through drainage 
and other methods. In addition, anti-malaria campaigns will 
use other insecticides such as malathion, temephos, 
bendiocarb and fenitrothion. 

The government also plans to step up efforts to enforce 
restrictions against DDT use in agriculture, which is 
reported to continue despite having been made illegal in 
1990. The resulting DDT contamination of food is a 
potentially serious problem, according to the Environmental 
Health Perspectives report mentioned above. The report, which 
examined links between DDT and breast cancer in Mexico, 
pointed out that recent studies have found relatively high 
levels of organochlorine residues in food in Mexico, 
principally in meat and dairy products. The Mexican Ministry 
of Health reported organochlorine residues in 146 out of 439 
samples examined between 1993 and 1995. 

Food contamination could account for the occurance of 
unexpectedly high levels of DDE, a breakdown product of DDT, 
in breast milk of women in Mexico City, where DDT has not 
been used in malaria campaigns. The Environmental Health 
Perspectives report found that DDT levels in breast milk 
ranged from 0.594 mg/kg in women in Mexico City to 5.02 mg/kg 
in women living in tropical Mexico, where anti-malaria 
campaigns using DDT continue. Since the late 1970s, levels of 
DDE in breast milk in Mexico have been two to three times 
greater than corresponding levels in samples analyzed in the 
U.S. during that same period.

According to the Environmental Health Perspectives report, 
breast cancer is the second leading cause of death among 
Mexican women, with a rate of breast cancer deaths in 1994 of 
2.8 per 100,000. The report points out that, despite 
limitations in the studies linking DDT to breast cancer, many 
recent studies have shown a dose-response relationship: the 
higher the levels of DDT and DDT breakdown products in women, 
the more likely that they will have breast cancer. 

Source: Lizbeth Lopez-Carrillo et al., "Is DDT Use a Public 
Health Problem in Mexico," Environmental Health Perspectives, 
Volume 104, Number 6, June 1996; "Experience In Reducing Use 
of DDT," Mexican delegation to Intergovernmental Forum on 
Chemical Safety (IFCS), IFCS Experts Meeting on Persistent 
Organic Pollutants, Manila, Philippines, June 17-19, 1996. 

Contact: PANNA

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