Concern in El Salvador over potential burning of obsolete pesticides
March 10th, 2010
The Global
Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA), the International POPs
Elimination Network (IPEN) and Pesticide Action Network Latin America (RAPAL)
sent a letter to the Minister of Environment and Natural Resources of El
Salvador, Eng. Herman Rosa Chávez, expressing deep concern over the possibility
of burning waste with the pesticide toxaphene in cement kilns operated by the
local company CESSA, a local subsidiary of Holcim. CESTA http://www.cesta-foe.org.sv/
Barrels containing the obsolete pesticide toxaphene have been left abandoned
more than a decade ago in the
The international networks, working for a toxics free future, warned that toxaphene
- a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) included in the Stockholm Convention on
POPs, which establishes measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs to
the environment - cannot be safely destroyed in cement kilns and made a call
for El Salvador to meet its obligations as a Party to the Stockholm Convention
on POPs. The Convention classifies cement kilns firing hazardous waste as a
source with potential for comparatively high formation and release of POPs such
as dioxins and furans.
In the letter, the networks noted that the scientific literature shows special
concern over the possibility that these chemical compounds will be present in
the clinker and other materials that are mixed to produce cement. Cement kilns
burning waste also release other pollutants, including Polycyclic Aromatic
Hydrocarbons, NOx, heavy metals such as mercury, lead, zinc, nickel and
vanadium. These substances are harmful to health and the environment.
The environmental justice networks recommended the Ministry of Environment and
Natural Resources to create a multi-sector committee with the participation of
community groups, academia, industry and public officials, to assess treatment
options for the hazardous waste, which do not have the potential to release
POPs. They also suggested that this committee could work on the definition and
implementation of the Best Available Techniques and Best Environmental
Practices in the framework of the Stockholm Convention. Finally, the networks
stated that the company or the association that represents the pesticide
industry should take full responsibility for all the costs involved in the
management and treatment of these obsolete pesticides, something that is
consistent with the Polluter Pays principle adopted in
See the letter (in Spanish) here.
Contacts in
UNES http://www.unes.org.sv/
