Towards a Non-Toxic Environment in South-East Asia

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The ChallengeGovernments need to take controlChemicals are part of everyone’s life. They are essential forvirtually every sector in today’s society. Besides the many benefits,there are also deep concerns about threats posed to global healthand the environment.Chemicals production, use and disposal continue to expandworldwide. Assessments and forecasts, projecting trends to 2050,predict that global chemical sales will grow about 3 per cent peryear to 2050. Chemical manufacturing and processing activities,once largely located in the highly industrialised countries, arenow steadily expanding into developing countries and countrieswith economies in transition.Trace levels of chemicals, such as DDT, PCBs, mercury, lead and othertoxins have been found in people and animals all over the world.But very few people are aware of how this can affect their health.In 2011, researchers from the World Health Organization (WHO)used available estimates for certain toxic chemicals to calculatethe global burden of disease. They estimated that in 2004, at least2.3 million deaths and 34.1 million disability-adjusted life years4
(DALYs), which address a blend of death and disease impact canbe attributed to handling of, and exposure to, selected industrialchemicals. Of special note was the finding that children under age15 years were a highly susceptible group.Only when a sudden disaster happens, we come to know aboutit. We recall Bhopal in 1984, when a chemical leakage led tomore than 5,000 dead and hundreds of thousands poisoned. Theconsequences are still affecting the people and the environmentof Bhopal.Of the tens of thousands of chemicals on the market, only a fractionhas been thoroughly evaluated to fully determine their effectson human health and the environment. Even if some progress isbeing made to fill some of the gaps about health and environmenteffects, this data remains limited to individual chemicals. Real-lifeexposures are rarely limited to a single chemical and very littleinformation is available on the health and environmental effectsof chemical mixtures.With rapid industrialisation, countries in South East Asia facemany challenges in the area of chemicals management. Theintensive, and often insufficiently controlled, use of pesticides inthe large agriculture sector is part of the issue. The most readilyavailable pesticides in South-East Asia are often the most toxicand broad-spectrum products. The effects on public health andthe environment can be devastating. Institutions, legislation,enforcement and general awareness need to be enhanced.Besides the obvious negative effect on health and environment,the lack of control on pesticide use and resulting residues has alsoaffected trade. Due to tough restrictions on the use of chemicals inthe European Union and the USA, entire shipments of vegetablesand seafood with unacceptable high level of chemical residueshave been sent back to the country of origin. The economic lossesare considerable to farmers, industry and governments – and thepeople of the affected countries.Governments need to take action to control and regulate thesechemicals more effectively. “Towards a Non-Toxic Environmentin South-East Asia” provides assistance in taking on the challenge.5
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Towards a Non-Toxic Environment in South-East Asia

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