Toxic waste
Ethiopia and South Africa among world's top ten 'Toxic Hot Spots'

afrol.com, 5 December - On a new map released today by the conservation organization WWF, demonstrating the global threat and reach of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs), Ethiopia and South Africa figure among world's top ten 'Toxic Hot Spots' identified. The map was presented on the governments meeting in Johannesburg, negotiating a global POPs treaty.

In Ethiopia, just outside Addis Ababa, in a heavily trafficked area and close to the country's biggest grain silo, one of the main stores of obsolete pesticides is located. It is housed in a ramshackle, single-storey building 30 metres long, its corrugated roof buckled and warped, the windows in its breeze block sides long gone. It contains 80 tons of pesticides and a fire hazard or a leakage would affect the whole population of Addis. Inside the building, sacks and drums containing pesticides like DDT and lindane are leaking and the chemicals are mixing. This is only one of Ethiopia's over 400 pesticide stores.

South Africa produces some 2 million tons of hazardous waste a year on its own, and is also an importer of toxic waste from abroad. Ninety five per cent of South African waste is disposed of on land, much of it in Gauteng. "The use of highly toxic chemicals in industry and the emission and disposal of these into air, water and land lead to contamination of the environment," according to the South African organisation Earthlife Africa, campaigning against toxics. "The impacts are born by people, usually the poor, and the hidden costs like health care passed onto the public."

WWF yesterday called on governments meeting in Johannesburg for the fifth and final negotiating session for a global treaty on POPs, to seize this opportunity to eliminate 12 toxic chemicals that threaten the wellbeing of both people and wildlife. 

The Toxic Hot Spots map by WWF uses ten of the hundreds of examples of toxic contamination around the world to represent the pervasive nature of POPs. From PCB-contaminated fish in the Great Lakes to waste incineration and dioxin emissions in South Africa, every region of the world is affected by POPs. The map underlines that our understanding of the dangers from exposure to POPs is still superficial and that many of the effects will be felt by future generations. 

To reduce these threats, WWF argues that the nascent treaty must make elimination - not management - of chemicals such as polychlorobiphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins its central goal, combined with financial and technical assistance for developing nations to help them move toward safer alternatives. 

- The last century was defined by the introduction of thousands of synthetic chemicals into an environment that was incapable of handling such an onslaught, said Clifton Curtis, Director of WWF's Global Toxic Chemicals Initiative. "Negotiators in Johannesburg have a unique opportunity to begin the 21st century by turning the tide against chemical pollution."

WWF believes that if the treaty is to be truly effective, it must adopt 'precaution' as a guiding principle. This principle states that where there is scientific evidence that an activity threatens wildlife or human health, action should be taken even in the absence of full scientific certainty. Negotiators will also have to set criteria to eliminate additional POPs in the future. WWF estimates that for DDT - one of targeted POPs - exemptions should be allowed for its continued use against malaria. 

- As we head to the finish line of these important negotiations significant issues are still unresolved, Clifton Curtis added. "Governments officials will need to present a united, strong showing of political will and courage to achieve a meaningful treaty-one that really contributes to a safer and healthier future for our children, wildlife, and environment." 

POPs are a particularly dangerous class of chemicals because of four common characteristics: they are toxic; they resist the normal processes that break down contaminants in the body and the environment; they accumulate in body fat and are passed from mother to foetus in the womb; and they can travel great distances on wind currents. Long distance travellers such as dioxins, PCBs, and DDT can be released in one area and then hitchhike within air masses to regions far from their original source.

POPs are linked to a wide array of health problems, including falling sperm counts, rising rates of breast and testicular cancer, behavior disorders, birth defects and immune system changes, according to information gathered by Greenpeace. Children are most susceptible to damage from toxics because they absorb chemicals better than adults and have poorly-developed systems for detoxifying chemicals. 

The ten Toxic Hot Spots highlighted by WWF's map are: Ethiopia (obsolete pesticide stockpiles) ; South Africa (waste incineration) ; Norway (PCBs) ; Midway Island, North Pacific (PCBs, dioxins, furans) ; Pakistan (medical waste incineration) ; Great Lakes in North America (PCBs) ; Japan (dioxins) ; Russia (PCBs) ; Florida, United States (DDE, DDD, Dieldrin, Toxaphene) ; British Columbia, Canada (PCBs). 

In another "toxic hot spots" world map, produced by the environmental organisation Greenpeace, the only African country figuring is Mozambique. Greenpeace's POPs map pinpoints Matola, just outside the capital Maputo, as one of the world's major obsolete pesticide stockpiles, with contaminating organochlorines and dioxins.

Sources: WWF, etc.

 

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