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Pesticides worth more than US$30 billion areintentionally released into the global environ-ment every year. Many of these are highlytoxic and have immediate adverse effectson human health and wildlife or contaminatelocal food, water, soil and air. Others havechronic effects, including cancers, reproduc-tive problems, birth defects, hormonal dis-ruption and damage to the immune system.Harm may result from direct exposure duringhandling, spray drift, washing contaminatedwork clothes, storing pesticides in the home,or indirectly via pesticide dumps and per-sistence in the environment. One of thesehighly problematic pesticides is the insec-ticide endosulfan.
Phasing in Alternativesto Endosulfan
Reasons, experiences and links
Joint Paper of the PAN International working groupAlternatives to Synthetic Pesticides
Prepared by Susan Haffmans, PAN Germany, in cooperation with:Fernando Bejarano, RAPAM (Mexico), S. Davo Vodouhe, OBEPAB (Benin)Meriel Watts, PANAP (New Zealand), Carina Weber, PAN GermanyStephanie Williamson, PAN UKPAN Germany for PAN International, Hamburg, October 2008
 
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Phasing in Alternatives to Endosulfan
Phasing out EndosulfanPhasing in Alternatives
Endosulfan causes harm all over the world. It is verydangerous for humans and for the environment. It isharmful in contact with skin, very toxic by inhalationand if swallowed
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. In March 2007, the Chemical ReviewCommittee of the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure (PIC Convention) recom-mended the inclusion of endosulfan in its Annex III. An-nex III is the list of chemicals that have been banned or severely restricted for health or environmental reasonsby Parties to the Convention. In July 2007 the Councilof the European Union (EU) made the decision to pro-pose endosulfan for listing in the Stockholm Conventionon Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs Convention)for global elimination. Pesticide Action Network (PAN)promotes the elimination of harmful pesticides and thegeneration, innovation and promotion of ecological al-ternatives to pesticides. PAN supports the inclusion of endosulfan in the PIC and POPs Conventions
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. Thisleaflet provides information about existing alternativesto endosulfan use.
Endosulfan – negative impacts onhealth, wildlife and environment
Endosulfan is an organochlorine insecticide. It is usedto control a wide range of sucking and chewinginsects, including aphids, thrips, beetles,foliar feeding caterpillars, mites, bo-rers, cutworms, bollworms, bugs,whiteflies, leafhoppers and tse-tse flies and other inverteb-rates such as snails in ricepaddies and earthworms inturf. It is applied on crops,on farm animals and pets,on sport fields and in other situations. It is widely con-sidered to be a persistentorganic pollutant (POP). It isvolatile and has the potential for long-range atmospheric transportand therefore contaminates envi-ronments far from where it is used. Itis stored in the fatty tissues of animals andhumans, accumulating up the food chain, including inmothers’ milk.Residues of endosulfan have been found in indoor air, rain, in all kind of water resources and in sediment,soil, tree bark, aquatic plants, fish, crocodile eggs andother living things. Residues have also been found infood around the world, in dairy foods, meat, chicken,vegetable oil, peanuts, seeds, fruit, honey, rice and manydifferent vegetables. As a hormone disruptor, endosulfanthreatens reproductive capacity. Although endosulfanis not listed in the cancer listings of the US Environ-mental Protection Agency, EU or International Agencyfor Research on Cancer, studies have shown that en-dosulfan can increase the risk of breast cancer 
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.In some communities it has left a legacy of deformityand malfunction. Many cases of poisoning, includingfatalities, have been reported from Benin, Colombia,Costa Rica, Cuba, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Malay-sia, Philippines, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Sudan, Turkeyand the USA. Endosulfan is one of the main causes of acute poisoning in Central America, in southern Indiaand other areas
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Crops on which endosulfan is applied
Endosulfan is used in banana, berry fruit, cabbageand other crucifers, cassava, citrus, coffee, corn, cottonand other fibre crops, cowpea, eggplant, forage crops,forest trees, garlic, lettuce, mango, mungbean, onion,ornamentals, peanut, pepper, pigeon pea, oil crops,ornamentals, potato, rice, sesame, sorghum, soy-bean, squash and other cucurbits, stringbean, sweet potato, tea, tomato, andwheat production.In some African countriesendosulfan is widely used, es-pecially in cotton cultivation.Blood samples from cottonfarmers have shown detec-table levels of endosulfanand the farmers are suffe-ring from many symptoms of acute endosulfan poisoning.Some of the worst cases of poisoning were found in Benin,which included deaths of farmersor their family members exposed toendosulfan
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. After almost 10 years of en-vironmental damage, poisoning and deathsthe government of Benin announced in February 2008that the chemical would be banned after the existingstocks are used up.
 
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Phasing in Alternatives to Endosulfan
Growing crops without endosulfan ispossible.
Many countries around the world show that crops canbe grown without the use of endosulfan. Daily proof isprovided by the following 55 countries where endosulfanis banned or strongly restricted or has been withdrawn:Austria, Bahrain, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bulgaria, Bur-kina Faso, Cap-Vert, Cambodia, Chad, Colombia, Coted’Ivoire, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia,Finland, France, Gambia, Germany, Greece, Guinea
Source: S. Haffmans/PAN Germany, 30.09.2008, derived from Image: BlankMap-World-v5.png, Date: 2008-09-04, Author: Chanheigeorge
Endosulfan Monograph
The Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safetyidentified endosulfan as an acutely toxic pesticide that po-ses significant health problems for developing countriesand economies in transition.However, this statement of concern is no longer limited todeveloping countries, nor justto acute effects, nor just to hu-mans. For more information:PANAP (2008): EndosulfanMonograph by Dr. MerielWatts. http://panap.net/up-loads/media/EndosulfanMo-nograph2008June.pdf 
Bad practice: countries whereendosulfan is still in use
A complete list of countries where endosulfan is cur-rently in use does not exist. But according to PAN dataendosulfan is still in use in the following countries: Aus-tralia, Bangladesh, Brazil, Cameroon, Canada, China,Ghana, Honduras, Iceland, Indonesia, India, Iran, Is-rael, Japan, Korea, Madagascar, Mexico, New Zealand,Pakistan, Panama, Philippines, Russia, South Africa,Tanzania, Thailand, Uganda and United States.Bissau, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Jordan, Kuwait, Latvia, Li-thuania, Luxembourg, Malaysia, Malta, Mauritania, Mali,the Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Poland,Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Senegal, Sin-gapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, St Lucia, Sri Lanka,Sweden, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and the UnitedKingdom. Examples from Asia, Africa, Latin America andEurope of successful production without endosulfan givedaily proof that practical alternatives to endosulfan existand are technically and economically feasible.
Growing crops without endosulfan - experiences and case studies
Examples of no use of endosulfan around the world.
 
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