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Daily News Archive
From December 04, 2001

Baltic Countries Halt Use of 26 Pesticides

The Pesticide Report has revealed that 26 of the most hazardous pesticides, which had been selected as requiring immediate priority action, are no longer in use or have been banned in all countries bordering the Baltic Sea.

The new report compiled by the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission, known as the Helsinki Commission (HELCOM), is based on questionnaires sent out to all nine countries bordering the Baltic Sea. The 26 pesticides that are now out of use were selected for immediate action due to properties such as toxicity, persistency, and tendency to bioaccumulate. Nine of the pesticides are persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and covered by the Stockholm Convention on POPs.

Stockpiles of obsolete pesticides in the Baltic countries remain a source of severe pollution, according to HELCOM. In many countries, pesticides leaking from inadequate storage facilities have heavily contaminated unquantified amounts of soil and building materials. The current amount of accumulated old stocks is: 445 tons in Estonia, with an unknown amount yet to be identified; 2060 tons in Lithuania - 214 tons of which are banned pesticides, and 1350 tons have not yet been identified; and 1480 tons in Latvia, 130 tons of which have yet to be identified.

To view The Pesticide Report, please see: www.helcom.fi/land/Hazardous/Final_Pesticide_Report.PDF