July 24, 2006	Monday	Jumadi-ul-Sani 27, 1427

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LAHORE, July 23: Tons of obsolete and hazardous pesticides have been lying in agriculture department’s stores in 28 districts of Punjab for years posing threat of air, soil and groundwater contamination around these places, some of these located in thickly populated areas.

According to a Punjab Environment Protection department report, the pesticides lying in stores at Lahore, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Multan, Jhang, Sahiwal, Toba Tek Singh and Rahim Yar Khan districts are highly hazardous.

“A large quantity (of stored pesticides) was of banned nature as they contained persistent organic pollutants better known as Dirty Dozen,” the report says.

A survey by the provincial agriculture department disclosed that there were 167 such stores in Punjab that contained 1,000 tons of `hazardous and obsolete’ pesticides.

Eighteen of the stores are said to be located in populated areas of various cities including Lahore, Chiniot, Shorkot, Jaranwala, Sambrial, Gujranwala, Okara, Multan, Vehari, Khanewal, Sahiwal, Khanpur, Bahawalpur, Muzaffargarh, Jampur, Mianwali, Essa Khel and Bhakkar.

The stores at Rahim Yar Khan, Bahawalnagar, Bahawalpur and Gujranwala districts have the highest tonnage of these pesticides, the survey says.

PRO-PLAN Association (Pvt), a local Karachi-based company, after finding evidence of air, soil and groundwater contamination around the stores in its survey conducted back in 1997, had suggested a detailed analysis of the pesticides’ samples, but no step had so far been taken in this regard.

The EPD report says that even a very brief contact with these pesticides can cause serious health problems to people and animal alike.

The federal government, it is learnt, is planning to develop inventory of (POPs) pesticides lying in the country, especially in Punjab. A National Implementation Plan would be developed to get rid of these POPs, sources said.

The POPs or Dirty Dozen chemicals are Aldrin, Chlordane, DDT, Dieldrin, Dioxins, Endrin, Furans, Hepatachlor, HCB (hexachlorobenzene), Mirex, PCB (polychlorinated biphenyls), and Toxaphene.

PLASTIC DRUMS: Punjab Environment Minister Makhdoom Ashfaq Ahmad on Sunday directed the officers concerned to speed up the ongoing campaign against the shopkeepers involved in using empty plastic drums for storage of edibles.

He issued these directions while presiding over a departmental meeting, which was also attended by Environment Secretary Iqbal Sheikh and other officers concerned.

The minister said many shopkeepers were reportedly using plastic drums for storing milk, jams, cream, ghee, water and other daily use items. The poisonous particles of chemicals remained present in these drums posing serious health hazards, he added.

He said Environment department had launched the campaign with the cooperation of district government, and action had been taken against hundreds of shopkeepers involved in the fatal business. —Amjad Mahmood