and Integrated Pest Management - part - usaid

LOOKING FOR THAILAND'S "LOVE CANAL"
J. K. Jensen and G. Zweig
American Embassy, 95 Wireless Rd., Bangkok 10500, Thailand
and
Zweig Associates, Arlington, Virginia 22207, U.S.A.
The pleasant sounding words "Love Canal" provoke horror in most
Americans. Thoughts that come to mind are chemicals oozing up through
neatly trimmed grass where children play, birth defects and cancer. What was the
cause of this horror?
Love Canal was a residential estate near Buffalo, New York, that was built
over a chemical company's then-legal dump site for wastes associated with
pesticide manulacture and formulation. This included old drums filled with toxic
chemicals and solvents. The title of the land changed hands several times and
was eventually sold for real estate development. The toxic waste dump site was
covered over with dirt and homes were built on top of it. Twenty years later, the
problems described a!:ove began.
Serious problems involving obsolete pesticide stocks exist in a number of
developing countries in Asia and Africa. For example, it has been
authoritatively reported (PAPA 1985) that 212 lots of pesticides have been
identified in Punjab Province, Pakistan, and appear to be abandoned. Among
these lots are reported to be 1.5 million kg of 5% cndosulfan granules, 230,000
liters of Gusthion 20% EC, 250,000 liters of Phosvel 27% EC, and many more.
The first two are examples of persistent chlorinated pesticides and toxic
organophosphorns compounds. The third, Phosvel, has never been registered for
use in die USA and was banned throughota the world due to its delayed effects
on the central nervous syst" i of mammals, causing temporary and sometimes
permanent paralysis from high exposure. Until 1980, the government had
distributed pesticides free of charge or highly subsidized them, resulting in excess
stock far above the needs of farmers.
I1large stocks of unattended, obsolete pesticides are left in the open or in
temporary storage, especially in tropical climates, the containers may corrode and
the contents may leak out, endangering man and the environment. An additional
problem arises if a pesticide is broken down into more toxic degradation
products.
The USAID Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance recognized that a "Love
Canal" or a similar problem involving obsolete pes:icides could occur in other
African or Asian countries that are users of large ( 1,antities of pesticides, and
hence funded a survey (Jensen & Zweig 1986) to determine whether such a
problem is likely to occur in Thailand. The members of the survey team in
Thailand were Yothin U. (Khon Kacn University, Khon Kaen 40260, Thailand),
Paitoon P. (Department of Agriculture, Bangkok 9, Thailand), Usanee U.,