Subject: PANUPS: Pesticide Dumping in Eastern Europe

From: Pesticide Action Network North America Reg Ctr <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 20 Jan 93 15:57:20 PST

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PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK NORTH AMERICA UPDATES 
SERVICE
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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problem by exporting outdated pesticides to Albania, calling the 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-masked]
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