TOXIC FREE ASIA TOUR

POPs IN ASIA

Introduction POPs in: India Thailand Vietnam Philippines China Japan Nepal Status of Specific POPs in the Region

Asia is perhaps the world's largest producer and consumer of many POPs chemicals, despite the fact that most short-listed POPS are banned from use or production in western countries. A combination of factors has led to the continued production, trade, use and release into the environment of POPs in Asia:

• stockpiles of obsolete POPs pesticides - intensive promotion of DDT for mosquito control led to large aid "donations" of DDT to South Asian countries. There are more than 1000 POPs stockpiles in Nepal and Pakistan.
  
  
• continued production and trade in POP chemicals - India exports nearly 800,000 kg of POP pesticides each year. In Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, locally banned or severely restricted pesticides are freely available; and smuggling of POPs pesticides is widely reported.
  
  
• lack of awareness of handling and disposal of POPs - such as PCBs in electrical equipment.
  
  
• planned expansion of POPs-producing technologies - Even as several Asian countries are stuck with the historical problem of POPs stockpiles, some developed nations in partnership with local entrepreneurs are pushing for the expansion of POPs producing technologies such as waste incinerators and PVC manufacturing plants. Greenpeace has uncovered many proposals involving American, European, Australian and Japanese companies to build municipal, medical and hazardous waste incinerators in the Philippines, Thailand, India, Vietnam, Bangladesh, and Malaysia . In some cases, the construction of these incinerators is backed by multilateral financial institutions like the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank.
  
  
• after effects of past POPs-linked activities - such as the war-time spraying of Agent Orange in South Vietnam and the contamination of former military facilities used by the United States in the Philippines and Thailand.

Many Asian countries have no standards for POPs, especially unintentionally produced ones such as dioxins and furans. The primary source of dioxins include municipal and medical waste incinerators. Yet over the past few years India, the Philippines, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam have seen a number of incinerators proposed or installed for the disposal of medical, municipal and hazardous waste.

The problems of POPs in Asia is too large, complicated and expensive for any individual nation to tackle. Greenpeace is urging Asian governments to actively participate in the UNEP process to rid the world of POPs, and to press for the following principles to be adopted:

• Polluter pays - the people of Asia already bear the health and environmental costs of POPs pollution, and must not bear the economic cost of its eventual clean up and disposal. Multinational chemical corporations should be made responsible for the stockpiles of their products that litter Asia, while government such as the US should be made to pay for the clean up of contaminated military bases in the Philippines
  
  
• Precautionary Principle - taking preventative action when there is reason to believe that harm is likely to be caused by human activity. Action should be taken even where there is noconclusive evidence to prove a causal relationship between the actions and their effects.
  
  
• Elimination of all POPs sources - POPs elimination is a two-step process - source identification, followed by source elimination. Firstly the source of POPs must be properly identified- and then phased out, replaced or otherwise removed, . This is true for POPs that are produced intentionally as well as unintentionally, such as dioxins.
  
  
• Technological and other resource assistance - It is critical that the global POPs treaty include measures to discourage wealthy countries from promoting and exporting POP-generating technologies and materials to newly industrialized nations. A the same time, measures must be included to encourage wealthy countries and aid programs to assist newly industrialized countries in developing and implementing non-POP technologies and materials.
  
  
• No to Incineration - as a disposal route for existing POPs stockpiles since incineration itself has been identified as a major source of dioxins and furans. While so-called state of the art incinerators can greatly reduce stack emissions, they still cannot stop the formation of dioxins and other POPs which may be present in the fly ash and bottom ash that would still require further treatment and disposal. Alternative destruction and de-toxification methods and technologies which do not generate POPs should be used instead. In recognition of the dangers associated with incineration, countries like Australia are venturing into non-incineration destruction technologies. Recently, the Philippines and Costa Rica both banned incineration as a disposal method for municipal, medical and hazardous wastes.
  
  
  
  

POPs IN INDIA

Chemical pesticides - They have been used in India since 1949, when DDT was first imported for malarial control. In 1954 the first DDT factory was established outside Delhi and today India is among four remaining known manufacturers of DDT in the world (the other three being Italy, Mexico and China). Usage of all POP pesticides - except DDT - is banned in India, however at least one researcher concluded that "…at least 70 per cent of all pesticides used on Indian farms are banned or severely restricted in the North…".(6) India annually exports nearly 800,000kg of POP pesticides to a long list of countries, including countries where their use is banned. There are also reports that the clandestine manufacture of several POPs pesticides is contributing to illegal exports to Bangladesh and Nepal. Owing to the sheer size of its POPs manufacturing industry Greenpeace believes India should be a major player in the negotiations to eliminate POPs.

Dioxin - According to the Indian Government, industries that engage in activities involving TCDD (the most toxic form of dioxin) have specific responsibilities, such as assessment of major hazards, measures to prevent accidents and limit impairment of human health and environmental pollution, proper information for workers, emergency plans, etc. (1989 (8)) Unfortunately these requirements are not enforced and there are no known standards for controlling or reducing emissions of dioxin either to air, land or water. Greenpeace knows of no certified laboratory in India equipped to analyse for the presence of dioxin.


POPs IN THAILAND

Agent Orange - In March 1999, a construction company working on the runway of Bor Phai airport unearthed 1 x 200 litre and 15 x 20 litre barrels of chemicals suspected to be Agent Orange. Speculation that the US military used the airport, then a Thai air base, during the Vietnam War, was denied by Thai government officials, however officials familiar with US military records have acknowledged that the Americans did use the airport to test defoliants in Thailand in the mid-60's. Both the Thai and US governments initially denied that the unearthed chemicals were Agent Orange, but subsequent tests conducted by the US EPA confirmed that the chemicals unearthed were indeed Agent Orange. Both Thai and US government officials insisted that the level of dioxins was too small to pose any risk to human health. The Thai government proposes burying the contaminated materials in a clay-lined landfill near the airport, most likely to be paid for by Thai taxpayers. The episode has reinforced fears about the existence of buried Agent Orange and other toxic chemicals in other air bases in Thailand used by the American military during the Vietnam war. Greenpeace is demanding that the US Government immediately clean-up and remediate the contaminated site using non-incineration technology; that unearthed barrels of Agent Orange be returned to the US; and that the US government disclose fully its history of use, storage and disposal of Agent Orange chemicals in Thailand during the Vietnam War. More info from the hotspots report.

Dioxin - Thailand at present does not have any prescribed standards for controlling or reducing dioxin releases to air, land or water. Greenpeace knows of no certified laboratory in Thailand equipped to analyses for the presence of dioxin. A joint project is presently being undertaken by the Thailand Government in conjunction with the German Government to develop an inventory of dioxin releases in Thailand.


POPs IN VIETNAM

Defoliants - An estimated 72 million litres of herbicides were sprayed across wide areas of South Vietnam by the US Government during the Vietnam war. Agent Orange accounted for about 60 per cent, or 42 million litres, and it is estimated that a total of 170kg of dioxin was released into the South Vietnam environment. A quarter of a century later and the evidence remains of widespread disruption and degradation of ecosystems and human health. Many health effects have begun to manifest themselves in the offspring of people exposed to Agent Orange. Studies done to show human health problems believed to be linked to Agent Orange exposure found higher rates of liver cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. The studies also found higher rates of miscarriages, stillbirths, and birth defects in people who lived in sprayed areas and families of exposed war veterans (7). Another long term effect of the war was the huge craters left behind by bombing missions, which eventually became breeding grounds for malaria carrying mosquitos, leading to the use of large quantities of DDT. The use of these chemicals has resulted in dioxin and furan levels in the breast milk of South Vietnamese women to be the highest among those studied - higher than the USA, Canada, Japan, or Germany (4). Greenpeace believes the US Government and manufacturers of Agent Orange should bear the burden of compensating Vietnamese people for the damage to health and environment. More info from hotspots report.


POPs IN THE PHILIPPINES

Former Military bases - When the United States left its former military bases, Clark and Subic, in the Philippines in 1991, it soon became apparent they had also left behind a legacy of toxic waste and contamination, brought about by the use, storage, and disposal of hazardous materials including POPs such as PCBs and organochlorine pesticides. A 1992 report by the US General Accounting Office revealed that the US military had failed to comply with its own environmental standards on its Philippine bases and that as a consequence, cleaning-up the damage left could reach Superfund proportions. The US government's official response has been that of denial, stressing it is under no legal obligation to pay and provide for the clean-up of its former bases in the Philippines. Meanwhile, reports of high incidence of children born with abnormalities and impaired intelligence in the communities living near Clark are beginning to come out. Greenpeace demands that the polluter, in this case, the US government, pays for the costs of cleaning up contaminated sites. More info from hotspots report.

Dioxin - The Philippines does not have any prescribed standards for dioxin emissions for the different environmental media (soil, water and land). The country also does not have any capacity to monitor and test for dioxin emissions. There is very little data about dioxin contamination of the environment and human population of the Philippines.


POPs in CHINA

Dioxin - While there are laws on water and air pollution in mainland China, there is no known law for controlling dioxin emissions. Hong Kong, has three ordinances, Water Pollution Control Ordinance, Air Pollution Control Ordinance and the Waste Disposal Ordinance. The Water Ordinance does not allow any dioxin to be found in Hong Kong. Both for Air and Waste disposal, there is no set standard for dioxin and each site is addressed on a case-by-case basis through the licensing system. To date only one Chemical Waste Treatment facility has been licensed for dioxin. There are two analytical laboratories in Hong Kong which are reported to be able to test for dioxin, one operated by the Government and the other by Pacific Waste Management.

In 1997, the Chemical Waste Treatment Centre on Tsing Yi Island, Hong Kong, treated 723 tonnes of pesticides and cyanide, 3,792 tonnes of organic solvent (halogenated and non-halogenated), 5,683 tonnes of waste oil from land, 17,853 of marine pollutants, 22,792 of MARPOL waste, and 2,162 tonnes of metallic solvent. Details of the treatment process have not been published but the government admits that the Waste Treatment Centre is a dioxin source.


POPs in JAPAN

Incineration - Japan has one of the highest rates of dioxin release in the world, due to high levels of industrialisation and wide spread use of poorly controlled municipal and industrial waste incineration. Japan has the highest number of operating municipal waste incinerators in the world - some 1850 of them and some 10,000 of industrial waste incinerators. A new law "Dioxin Special Measures Law" was passed through the Japanese Parliament on the 12th of July and new standards are being developed for enforcement in the beginning of the year 2000. Until recently the only criterion that has been set to evaluate risks of human exposure to dioxin was a very high 10 pg/kgbw/day developed in a health risk assessment of a municipal waste incinerator. This was recently lowered in line with new World Health Organisation Standards. Several regulations are in place including standards for reducing dioxin releases from incinerators. which makes incinerators or ones with dioxin control devices more and more expensive.

The municipal waste of 3,700,000 people living in the west of Tokyo is taken to the Hinode machi, Nishi-Tama-gun waste dump. The dumpsite consists of two large parts. Yatozawa, the biggest waste landfill in Asia with a waste capacity of 2,610,000m3, and which is already full. The other, Futatsuduka, is now operating and has a waste capacity of 2,500,000m3. Dioxins contaminate the air around the sites from incineration ash dumped at the landfill, which is suspended in the air before being carried downwind. Local residents' group Woods, Water and Life Preserver found high dioxin contamination in the soil and also a high frequency of deaths from cancer around the Yatozawa site; four times the town/national average. More info from the Hotspots report.


POPs in NEPAL

Pesticides - Since the mid 1950s Nepal has received annual pesticide donations from a variety of agencies, in particular USAID. Until recently any pesticide that was registered in at least one other country could be legally used in Nepal and as a result large quantities of pesticides have flooded the country. As recently as 1997 exports of DDT, banned for several decades in the west, continued to Nepal. At Nepal's largest POPs stockpile Greenpeace investigators found corroded drums stored in a warehouse in Amlekhgunj, south of Kathmandu, near the Indian border. The Amlekhgunj stockpile is estimated to contain at least 50-tons of pesticides, including DDT and lindane. At another, five-ton stockpile in Kathmandu Valley, Greenpeace found sacks of various pesticides inside two poorly ventilated rooms of a garage like structure, adjacent to agricultural fields. A mixture of pesticides were strewn over scrap wood and old furniture also stored in the room, and most labels on the sacks were unreadable. The Nepalese Government is willing to tackle the crisis of pesticide stockpiles, but is unable to raise the resources or expertise to deal with the problem. More info from the Hotspots report.

Status of Specific POPs in the Region

Persistent Organic Pollutant	Use Category	India	China	Thailand	Philippines	Japan
Aldrin	Pesticide	Banned	-	-	R1	Banned, PI
Dieldrin	Pesticide	Banned	-	-	R1	Banned, PI
DDT	Pesticide	Producer, R2	Producer, R2	Banned, PI	Banned, PI	Banned, PI
Endrin	Pesticide	PO	-	Banned	Banned	Banned, PI
Heptachlor	Pesticide	Banned	-	Banned	R1	Banned, PI
Chlordane	Pesticide	Banned	R1	-	Banned	Banned, PI
Hexachloro-benzene (HCB)	Pesticide / Industrial by product	-	-	-	-	Banned, PI
Mirex	Pesticide	Unregistered	-	Banned	-	-
Toxaphene	Pesticide	Banned, PI	-	Banned, PI	Banned
PCBs	Industrial chemical	Not regulated		Banned	Banned	Banned, PI

PI = Prohibited Import
R = Restricted Use - unspecified
R1 = Restricted Uses ie termite control, seed dressing
R2= Restricted Use - Banned in agriculture, used for malaria control.
PO = Product phased out

Table Sources

1) UN Consolidated list of Products whose consumption and/or sale have been banned, withdrawn or severely restricted or not approved by Governments, UN 1994, Department of Policy Coordination and Sustainable Development Fifth Issue.
2) Hernandez, V Jayaraman, N., Toxic Legacies; Poisoned Futures., Persistent Organic Pollutants in Asia., 1998.
3) Thailand National Chemicals Management Profile., August 1998.



References

1 Rupa D.S., Reddy P.P. and Reddi O.S. (1991) Reproductive Performance in Population Exposed to Pesticides in Cotton Fields in India. Environmental Research 55: 123-128
2 Wong K.C. and Hwang M.Y. (1981) Children born to PCB poisoned mothers. Clin. Med. (Taipei) 7:83-87 (Cited in Jacobson J.L., Jacobson S.W. and Humphrey H.E.B. (1990). Effects of exposure to PCBs and related compounds on growth and activity in children. Neurotoxicology and Teratology 12: 319-326.
3 Dewailly E., Bruneau S., Laliberte C., Beleslles M., Weber J.P., Ayotte P. and Roy R. (1993) Breast milk contamination by PCBCs and PCDDs/PCDFs in Arctic Quebec: Preliminary results on the immune status of Inuit infants. Organohalogen Compounds 13:403-406
4 Allsopp M., Stringer R., and Johnston P. (June 1998). Unseen Poisons: Levels of Organocholorine Chemicals in Human Tissues. Greenpeace.
5 The New York Times, April 27, 1997.
6 Iyer R. The Chemical Industry In India: Occupational Hazards and Pollution. (1993) Center for Development and Environment, University of Oslo.
7 Le Cao Dai, "The Long Term Consequences of Agent Orange/Dioxin on Human Health in Vietnam", reported in National Conference on Dioxin, Hanoi, 1993.
8 UNEP 1998. POPs: Regulatory actions and guidelines concerning POPs, Geneva 1998.

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