European campaign against lindane

A meeting in June of the Pesticides Action Network-Europe brought together participants from 18 organisations in order to strengthen the co-ordination of activities among environmentalists in Europe. One outcome since has been the following letter to European Union (EU) Commissioners requesting that they ban the use and production of the organochlorine insecticide lindane in the EU. (DB)

To: Guy Legras, Director-General Agriculture
James Currie, Director-General Environment, Nuclear Safety and Civil Protection
Horst Reichenbach, Director-General Consumer Policy and Health Protection
European Commission, Brussels, BELGIUM

We write to you on behalf of the Pesticide Action Network Europe (a coalition of European environmental/consumer organisations) and other concerned groups about the use of the insecticide lindane which is a highly toxic and persistent poison that can pose serious risks to health and the environment. We ask that the European Commission recommend an immediate ban on use and production of this chemical throughout the European Union (EU) in light of the concerns raised here, and in many other fora in recent years.
    Lindane is the last organochlorine pesticide used to any great extent in Western Europe and it represents an 'old chemistry'. It goes back to the 1940s when cheap and relatively hazardous chemicals were considered acceptable, before more stringent health and environmental criteria came into force.
    The enclosed fact sheet (available from the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK]) on lindane highlights the problems it causes. The main points raised are:

• Cases of human poisoning by lindane have been reported in Europe. Children are significantly more susceptible to its toxic effects.

• The International Agency for the Research on Cancer and the US Environmental Protection Agency have concluded that lindane is a possible human carcinogen.

• Lindane is an endocrine disrupter which is capable of imitating certain hormones in humans. There is a significant body of evidence which suggests that where lindane is used, the incidence of breast cancer is higher.

• Recent data published by the joint Food and Agriculture Organisation/World Health Organisation Codex Committee suggests the acceptable daily intake for residues of lindane in the European diet may be exceeded by up to 12 times.

• Lindane is a persistent organic pollutant (POP) candidate according to the UN Environment Programme. There is concern that heavy usage in tropical zones may allow percolation of residues through the global environment to end up in cold regions such as Scandinavia, Canada and Antarctica.  

• Lindane is highly volatile, and when applied, the pesticide enters the atmosphere and is  later deposited by rain. It is also leached into surface waters and even into ground water. Lindane has been found in increasing concentration in the marine environment, and particularly in the North Sea.

• In common with other organochlorine pesticides, lindane is fat soluble and can bioaccumulate through food chains. Residues have been detected in the kidneys, livers and adipose tissue of a wide range of wild animals and birds, and in human body fat. It is highly toxic to aquatic invertebrates and fish.

We request that you take due consideration of the points raised in this letter and the enclosed report. The EU states of Austria, and Sweden have all severely restricted the use of lindane in recent years and have established suitable alternative pest control measures in its place. We do hope that the rest of the EU will soon be in a similar position thanks to your intervention and re-commendation.

Yours faithfully

Signed by the following public interest groups:
Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK]
Centre for Occupational and Environmental Health (UK)
Centro Internazionale Croevia (Italy)
Food Commission (UK)
Friends of the Earth (London)
Friends of the Earth (Germany)
General Workers Union (Denmark) 
Green Network (National Office, UK)
Green Network (Lincoln, UK)
Greenpeace International, European Unit
Greenpeace Exeter Laboratories (UK)
Hazards Magazine (UK)
Legambiente (Italy)
London Hazards Centre
Pesticides Action Network Belgium
Pesticides Action Network Germany
Pesticides Exposure Group of Sufferers (UK)
Rural, Agricultural and Allied Workers of the
Transport and General Workers Union (UK)
Soil Association (UK)
Stichting Natuur en Milieu, (Netherlands)
UNISON the public service union (UK)
Womens Environmental Network (UK)
World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) Europe 
WWF Germany

 [This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 41, September 1998, page 7]