Pesticide Mess Exported to Albania

The European Parliament called for an inquiry in March into who was responsible for exporting 3,500 tonnes of pesticides from the European Union (EU) to Albania. The local Albanian market could probably only absorb 60 tonnes of the pesticides. Of the total, 500 tonnes complied with EU environmental standards, the rest are being considered toxic waste, according to EU trade Commissioner Sir Leon Brittan. “The Albanian Government is examining ways of re-exporting what is re-usable, and will be seeking the necessary funds for destruction where that is required” he said. It is likely that 500 tonnes will have to be destroyed at a cost of US$3.1 million. These pesticides are either banned world-wide, totally unusable under the new farming system in Albania, very old, or, even unidentifiable [identifying an unknown pesticide sample costs about US$1,000]. Some pesticides used in Albania were never evaluated nor used in Western Europe. In protest, Greenpeace blocked the Franco-German border between Strasbourg and Kehl on 10 March with a truck full of toxic pesticides that it said had been illegally exported from Germany to Albania.

Reuters 11/3/94, and Pesticide Stocks in Albania, April 1993, European Commission.

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 24, June 1994, page 15]