AFRICA: Warning of ''toxic time bomb''

U N I T E D N A T I O N S
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Integrated Regional Information Network (IRIN)

AFRICA: Warning of ''toxic time bomb''

ADDIS ABABA, 24 April (IRIN) - Africa is facing a “toxic time bomb” from
dangerous obsolete pesticides, the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
warned on Wednesday.

Thousands of tonnes of highly poisonous chemicals are contaminating land and
finding their way into the food chain, it said. “These are very dangerous
chemicals,” Dr Alemayehu Wondagegneh from the FAO told IRIN in Addis Ababa.
“Most of them have been banned elsewhere.”

The FAO has launched a four-day workshop in Addis Ababa, along with the
African Stockpiles Programme (ASP) and the UN Economic Commission for Africa
(ECA), to help raise awareness of how dangerous the chemicals are. Farmers
in developing countries are often forced to rely on the obsolete chemicals
because the quality of soil is so poor and the pesticides are very cheap.

“People in developing countries are unaware of the inherent dangers of these
pesticides,” added Dr Alemayehu, the chief technical advisor for the
Prevention and Disposal of Obsolete Pesticides. “If they are not disposed of
properly they get in the groundwater, lakes and rivers. Then they are eaten
by fish and gradually find their way into the food chain."

“If they are not cleaned up and these chemicals disposed of properly it is
fair to say people will die as a result.” Dr Alemayehu predicted that in the
next five years the dangers
would become evident, as more illnesses were linked to obsolete pesticides.

He said Ethiopia was facing one of the most severe problems of the 53
countries in Africa. It is believed to have around 1,000 sites all over the
country contaminated by chemical pesticides.

The FAO – which in 1994 became the first organisation to start removing
pesticides from Africa - is now launching the biggest ever chemical clean-up
programme in the world to dispose of them. It estimates there are some 3,500
tonnes of obsolete pesticides, contaminated soils and containers in Ethiopia
alone.

Each tonne costs US $3,000 to dispose of. So far 113 tonnes in Ethiopia have
been destroyed. The chemicals were transported to Finland where they could
be disposed of properly.

According to the FAO, it will cost in the region of US $250 million to
dispose of all the dangerous chemicals in Africa – and could take some 70
years. Ten countries including Tanzania, Botswana, South Africa, Mozambique
and Mali are to be targeted in the first round to eradicate the chemicals.

Dr Alemayehu, who works at the FAO headquarters in Rome, said that many
developing countries face the same problem but in Africa there is very
little awareness of the dangers.

“This is a toxic time bomb,” he added. “A lot of the stocks are over 20
years old and are already finding their way into the water supply.”

[ENDS]

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