Pesticides polluting Romania

‘The toxic and very long-lasting, persistent organic pollutants endanger the well being of our planet and all living beings’ – said Klaus Töpfer, Chief Executive of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In early December, delegates from more than 120 countries met in Johannesburg, South Africa to discuss these poisons (see pages 6-7). Mihaela Vasilescu reports on Romania, one country that has suffered from the pollution caused by POPs.

The market
Targeted data on pesticide sales and use are difficult to find, but many of the older products are still produced and sold in developing country markets, either by domestic companies or by multinationals acting through subsidiaries or joint ventures. Approximately 70,000 to 80,000 tonnes of these compounds were commonly applied in developing and formerly socialist countries in 1995, including public health and veterinary applications.
    Economic disruption and decline during the 1990s has depressed pesticide use considerably in Central and Eastern Europe, including Romania (see Figure 1). The collapse of intra-regional trade, the break-up of state farms, and the sharp reduction in consumer purchasing power have resulted in the reduction in agricultural demand.

At the same time, Romanian state-owned pesticide plants, which dominated production, faced marketing and financial constraints and imports were curtailed by foreign exchange shortages. 

Obsolete pesticides
Stockpiles of obsolete compounds are an important source of pesticide environmental contamination. Data regarding the amounts of forbidden, expired and non-identified pesticides are indicated on the map of Romania (see Figure 2).

The persistent organic pollutants (POPs) identified in these stockpiles are toxaphene, heptachlor and DDT and they are listed in Table 1 together with the number of stockpiles in each district.

POPs pose a risk to human health and the environment, especially for children. A combination of pesticides, industrial chemicals, and unwanted by-products, these pollutants are toxic, persistent, and travel for long distances to remote areas far from the source of release. They accumulate in fatty tissue, becoming more concentrated higher up the food chain and with time. They present a special risk to children because they are conveyed through the placenta and in breast milk, and can have a critical effect on the foetus and infant whose systems are at key stages in development.

Regulation
Although pesticide legislation exists in Romania, it is in its infancy and gaps remain. 

Legislative landmarks

• Environmental Protection Law – 137/1995: Section 2 – Rules for dangerous substances and wastes; Section 3 – Rules for chemical fertilizers and pesticides; 
• Codex (International food residue standards) adopted in Romania;
• Standards for quality of soil, air, water, food, occupational environment;
• DDT and technical HCH banned for use in agriculture (1985).

Romania, like many other developing countries, is confronted with inadequate pesticide safety and hygiene practices. Consequently millions of people are exposed to these substances each year. Although the use pattern indicates that farm-workers and their families are on the front line of exposed groups, pesticide residues in food and in water demonstrate the potential for non-occupational exposure. 

The risk for human health can be defined as the probability that one or more exposures to chemical substances may lead to injury, disease or death. Health risk assessment involves the analysis of current and previous exposures and related adverse effects – real and potential. Risk may be expressed in quantitative terms or can be described qualitatively. Risks associated with exposure to pesticides cannot be evaluated and quantified easily. Risk assessment of chronic chemical exposure (that does not cause immediately observable effects) is very complex. 

Public health
Based on the evidence already accumulated about the harmful effect of pesticides on human health, it might be of interest to present some public health data in Romania.
    Cancer represents the second most common cause of death in Romania, and trends in mortality rates have shown a slight increase for the period 1970-1997. Cancer mortality in women (51% of total population) shows that breast and cervical cancer were the first and second causes of mortality in women by cancer after 1983, with an increasing trend (see Figure 3).

Cases of non-occupational poisoning with pesticides, registered in 26 counties of Romania for the period 1988-1993, show an elevated death rate of 10.1-26.4%. Products or active substances, which contributed to poisoning, were identified only in 30% of cases(1). The total number of deaths by pesticide poisoning shows an increasing trend due especially to accidental deaths (see Figure 4).

POPs
Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) represent an issue of concern in Romania both for the environment and public health protection (see also pages 6-7). Major problems include:

• An absence of correct and systematic information on POPs, and no awareness regarding the danger of POPs on human and environmental health;
• there is no inventory of national pollution sources from POPs;
• only the global figures of pesticide active ingredients (tonnes/year) are reported;
• there is no systematic control of food production and consumption on the internal market.;
• there are no systematic studies to identify the human and environmental burden with POPs and the links between them;
• the use of DDT and lindane is still allowed in public health.

Urgent problems

• improving the legal framework;
• raising awareness of public, managers and politicians on POPs danger;
• developing educational programs for consumers;
• promoting the participation of NGOs, women organizations and local groups;
• participating in international cooperative studies.

Risk management should be a tool for setting priorities and determining target levels and standards. But risks should be minimised, based on a ban on pesticides with high environmental persistence high soil mobility, and risk communication strategies to create an informed and knowledgeable population(2). 

References:
1. Mihaela Vasilescu, ‘Fate of Pesticides in the Environment and the Quality of Drinking Water in Relation to Human Health’ in ‘Chemical Safety, International Reference Manual’, Mervyn Richardson (Ed.), VCH Publisher, 1994. 
2. K. Fabritius, Mihaela Vasilescu, Acute non-occupational intoxications with pesticides in Romania: a comparative study from 1988 to 1993, Toxicology Letters 88 (1996) 
211-214.

Dr Mihaela Vasilescu works the Romanian-based Medium et Sanitas Association, Bucharest; and for the Institute of Public Health Bucharest, Str. Dr. Leonte 1-3, 76256, Bucharest, ROMANIA, vasilescu@xnet.ro

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No.50, December 2000, p8-9]