Green Peace Press Statement
Nepal Pesticides Ready for Shipment
Greenpeace asks Bayer, Shell to assume liability
Kathmandu, 21st January, 2002:

Greenpeace today contained and made safe more than six tonnes of obsolete pesticides that were lying in a dangerous condition at a warehouse near Kathmandu. More than 75 tonnes of such toxic material lie uncared for in several locations around Nepal. A large portion of the pesticides found in Kathmandu are from Indian pesticide companies -- like United Phosphorus (UPL), All India Medical Corp, Bharat Pulverising Mills, NOCIL, Rallis and Excel Industries – and the Indian subsidiaries of multinational companies -- like Bayer India, ICI, Merck and Union Carbide India Ltd.

Approximately one-third of pesticides in the stockpiles were manufactured by chemical multinationals Bayer and Shell; the remainder was made by Union Carbide (now Dow Chemicals), Sumitomo, Sandoz (Novartis), Rhone Poulenc (now Bayer), Du Pont and Monsanto among other companies. The deadly substances found in Kathmandu were donated to Nepal by Western companies or channelled through international aid mechanisms more than twenty-five years ago. Obsolete pesticides pose a serious threat to the environment and health of people living in the vicinity of such stockpiles.

The chemical companies listed above are directly or indirectly responsible for the more than 500,000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides abandoned worldwide. The Indian Government and the Indian pesticide manufacturers have not made an effort to locate and quantify dangerous date-expired pesticides stored in India.

The only known Indian location of a pesticide stockpile is at the ill-fated Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, India. However, for the last 17 years, neither the Government nor Union Carbide (now Dow Chemicals) have taken any steps to clean up the stockpile.

“The Nepal stockpile and the contaminated site at Bhopal are clear examples of the toxic legacy of chemical corporations, who don’t own up to their liabilities. Now that the companies know that their pesticides lie abandoned in various locations, we’d like to see them get into action to make these stockpiles safe before retrieving them to their home countries for safe disposal,” said Manu Gopalan, Greenpeace’s toxics campaigner in India.

“It’s time for the chemical industry to move beyond ‘responsible care’ rhetoric and take genuine responsibility for its products from cradle to grave. Greenpeace is inviting the companies that made these pesticides to visit stockpiles and retrieve the toxic waste and dispose of it safely in the country of origin,” said Greenpeace chemical expert, Andreas Bernstorff.

Pesticides found at the site include a highly toxic organomercury compound -- Agallol 3 – a highly toxic product manufactured and exported by German company Bayer despite the fact that the chemical was never registered in Germany. In fact, according to Nepali officials, Agallol was exported to Nepal in the 1970s to open new markets. Thirty years later, the red toxic dust from the broken and rotting containers of Bayer’s mercury compounds have contaminated every part of the site.

In 1999, Bayer refused requests for help from the Nepalese government with containing the poison. As a result of the Greenpeace campaign, Bayer has offered to assist via its global umbrella organization CropLife. Shell, nearly 1 ton of whose deadly nerve poison dieldrin was found at the Kathmandu site, has also sent a similar message through CropLife.

In Nepal, the dieldrin was found in rotting sacks whose contents had long since spilt on the floor forming an inch-thick carpet of dieldrin dust. “The dangers of dieldrin have been known to Shell at least for 25 years but the company continued to sell and export to industrializing countries until 1991,” said Eco Matser, toxics campaigner from Greenpeace Netherlands.

The Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) bans the use of dieldrin globally and calls for the elimination of existing stocks of these and other chemicals with similar characteristics. Greenpeace calls upon the industry to inventorize and make safe all obsolete pesticides globally and take full responsibility for all stockpiles. The environmental pressure group has also demanded all companies to ensure that the retrieved pesticides are disposed of safely in line with the regulations of the Stockholm Convention. (1)

Notes to Editors:
(1) The Stockholm Convention, adopted by world governments in May 2001,
states that persistent organic pollutants (POPs) , such as dieldrin and DDT,
should be disposed of using technologies that do not create more POPs, which
indicates that incineration technologies should be avoided.

For more information contact:
Manu Gopalan, Greenpeace (India), Toxic Campaigner in Nepal
Tel: +873-761623244 ; e-mail:  manu.gopalan@dialb.greenpeace.org

Doris Rao, Greenpeace (India), Media Officer,
Tel: 9820190278; e-mail:  drao@dialb.gl3

Nirmala Karunan, Greenpeace (India), Campaign Manager,
J - 15, Saket, New Delhi - 110 017, Tel: 011-6962932/6536717
Fax: 011-6536716; Email:  nirmala.karunan@dialb.greenpeace.org

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