Endosulfan to become ”Dirty Number 22“

EU recommends endosulfan be registered as POP in Stockholm Convention

A worldwide ban on production and application of the chemical endosulfan in pesticides is about to be introduced, in accordance with a resolution passed by the Fifth Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, or POPs. President Jochen Flasbarth of the Federal Environment Agency says, “The perseverance of our experts has paid off. This decision prevents the chemical from doing further damage to human health and the environment.” Endosulfan has already been banned in more than 80 countries. Suitable environmentally friendly substitute chemicals exist.
No. 26/11

The Fifth Conference of the Parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants has approved inclusion of endosulfan on the POP List, declaring that the chemical may no longer be used as a component in pesticides. The ban enters into force with a transitional period of several years. Endosulfan has been used as an insecticide, especially in growing tea, coffee, soybeans, and cotton.

Endosulfan is a neurotoxic chemical used in pesticides which is very persistent in the environment and accumulates in the fatty tissue of livers and kidneys in humans and animals where it damages health. It is transported through the atmosphere across very long distances, and thus endosulfan can be traced in e.g. the Arctic.

It has long been known that endosulfan poses a global problem to mankind and the environment. Therefore, more than 80 countries have banned use of the chemical, including a number of developing countries. It has been banned for use as a pesticide in the EU since 2005. Its former German producer Bayer CropScience discontinued production of endosulfan in 2007.

German Environment Agency

Wörlitzer Platz 1
06844 Dessau-Roßlau
Germany

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 Endosulfan  ban on pesticides  persistent organic pollutant