Ban on endosulfan in Cambodia

The Cambodian Government has recently announced a ban on endosulfan, a highly dangerous pesticide, which has caused dozens of accidental deaths worldwide.

In February 2003, two South African boys living near Ntabamhlophe, Kwa-Zulu Natal, died following exposure to endosulfan. Zwelithini Mhlongo (aged 7) and his brother Siyabonga (aged 10) collapsed after coming into contact with goats that had been treated with the chemical. A police officer and three journalists were hospitalised after visiting the site several hours later.
    Time and again endosulfan has been responsible for killing farmers and consumers in some of the world’s poorest countries. Global action against this hazardous chemical is urgently required. The safe use of endosulfan cannot be guaranteed in developing countries. In the recent South African case endosulfan, an insecticide intended for use on crops, was sold as a veterinary treatment.
    A recent report by the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF) on Cambodia details the serious pesticide problems faced there. Country bans of specific chemicals not only help safeguard health and the environment, but can have beneficial repercussions world-wide through the mechanisms of the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent. Many groups consider that, as an organochlorine, endosulfan should be included in the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs).
    Endosulfan has been banned in Belize, Singapore, Tonga, Syria, Germany, UK, Sweden, Netherlands, Colombia, the Indian state of Kerala, the Brazilian state of Rondonia, and now Cambodia. Endosulfan is severely restricted in Australia, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Khazakhstan, Kuwait, Philippines, Lithuania, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Denmark, Yugoslavia, Norway, Finland, Russia, Venezuela, Dominica, USA, and Canada. Endosulfan has caused deaths in Benin, Colombia, Cuba, the USA, India, Malaysia, Sudan, the Philippines and South Africa. In the past, endosulfan residues have led to South Korea banning imports of Australian beef, and the European Union banning imports of fish from Tanzania, Uganda and Kenya. (DM)

Supporting information
1. Endosulfan fact sheet, Pesticides News No.47, March 2000, p20, PAN UK.
2. End of the Road for Endosulfan. Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF), London, 2003.
3.End of a Killer Chemical – Making Cambodia a Safer Place with an Endosulfan Ban, EJF News Release, 29 April 2003.
4. ‘What’s Your Poison?’ published last month provides additional information on the health threats posed by pesticide exposure. Both reports are available to download from http://www.ejfoundation.org/reports.html

[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 60, June 2003, page 19]