Malaria Tops Agenda at Russian Pesticide Meeting

Dealing with the return of malaria to the Caucasus Mountain region and Central Asia without using DDT is of great concern to environmental and public health scientists.

Subject:    Malaria Tops Agenda at Russian Pesticide Meeting
Date:       Fri, 14 Jul 2000 07:32:26 -0400
From:        Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization:     Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)

You will note this letter is no longer addressed to Dear Lyndon.  Lyndon has retired from the California DPR and is now an "IPM" consultant - sadly, Lyndon never said it was "legal" to use anything but "registered" POISONS to "control" pest problems while he was in charge of "IPM" in California.

Malaria Tops Agenda at Russian Pesticide Meeting

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia, July 13, 2000 (ENS) - Dealing with the return of malaria to the Caucasus Mountain region and Central Asia without using DDT is of great concern to environmental and public health scientists. The problem is expected to dominate talks at this week's United Nations sponsored meeting in St. Petersburg on harmful pesticides.

Deteriorating agricultural irrigation systems are thought to have contributed to the re-emergence of malaria in the Caucasian and Central Asian region. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), co-sponsors of this week's  meeting, malaria is re-emerging in areas where it was previously under control, particularly the Central Asian republics of Tajikistan and Azerbaijan.

DDT, or dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, is a colorless chemical pesticide that was used extensively after World War II to combat malaria by eradicating disease carrying mosquitos. While its use continues in some countries, many nations, including the United States, banned DDT because of a host of problems.

Many species of insects developed resistance to DDT, and DDT was discovered to have a high toxicity for fish. It is metabolized slowly by animals and stored in fatty tissues. By entering the food chain and eventually concentrating in higher animals, DDT caused reproductive dysfunctions, such as thin eggshells in some birds such as the bald eagle.

In the U.S., DDT had dire consequences for the bald eagle, which is still listed as threatened in the lower 48 states. (Photo courtesy 1000pictures.com)

At this week's meeting, environmental, health and agriculture officials from 15 countries of Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Baltic States will discuss reducing the region's reliance on DDT and other pesticides that are harmful to the environment, wildlife and human health.

The meeting will review current pesticide use, identify more sustainable strategies for pest management, and explore alternatives to persistent organic pollutants, or POPs. Such substances remain in the atmosphere for a long time before they break down. They accumulate in the tissue of most living organisms when absorbed through food, water or air and can cause a wide range of toxic effects on humans and wildlife.

Organizers hope that the workshop will produce national action plans for reducing or eliminating POPs pesticides as well as lowering overall pesticide use. Collaboration between countries and industries on pest management is also on the agenda.

"Protecting the environment, safeguarding human health, and promoting effective agriculture practices go hand-in-hand," said Klaus Toepfer, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), which is the main sponsor of the gathering.

The workshop is being organized by UNEP in collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO). Participating Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) countries are: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Russia, Tadjikistan, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan.

UNEP is currently negotiating an international POPs treaty to reduce or eliminate the following pesticides: aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, mirex, hexachlorobenzene, and toxaphene. The fifth and final round of negotiations takes place in South Africa in December.

In 1998, WHO director general, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland, launched the Roll Back Malaria initiative to focus world attention on the disease, estimated to claim one million lives a year. There are an estimated 300 to 500 million cases of malaria per year, mostly in Africa.

"A universal ban on DDT now must include time limited exemptions for its production and use in malaria control. Otherwise, we might see increased death rates and suffering as a result of malaria," said David Nabarro, World Health Organization project manager for Roll Back Malaria in March just prior to the last meeting of parties to the POPs agreement designed to eliminate these chemicals, including DDT.

At present, issues around the continued use of DDT are emotive and complex," said Nabarro. "Countries affected by malaria are asking for help in making informed decisions towards reducing their use of DDT.  They will try to eliminate its use, but to do this they want help to ensure that there are minimal adverse health consequences as a result the of their decisions."

(Editor's Note:  Lyndon Hawkins has retired the California Department of Pesticide Regulation. We're sure he received parties, speeches and will be getting a fat retirement check paid for by citizens of California whom he should have but did not protect from pesticides.  We've heard he's going into IPM* consulting.)  *Include Pesticides Monthly 

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