Pesticide endosulfan considered for global ban

Scientists took a step closer on Friday to banning the pesticide endosulfan, widely used on crops like cocoa and cotton, despite objections from India which is a major producer and consumer of the toxic chemical.

Endosulfan is under consideration for inclusion on the list of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) under the 166-member Stockholm Convention -- a treaty to protect human health and the environment from chemicals.

The Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee decided to draw up a risk management evaluation for endosulfan, the penultimate step to putting it on the banned list, the convention secretariat said in a statement.

Once the committee has produced the evaluation it can propose to the next meeting of the convention in May 2011 that endosulfan should be banned.

"Endosulfan is a pesticide that is still widely used on many crops such as soy, cotton, rice, and tea. It is highly toxic to humans and many other animals and has been found in the environment, including the Arctic," the statement said.

India voted against the proposal to draw up the evaluation at the meeting of the 31-member committee.

Substances are listed as POPs if they are shown to persist for long periods in the atmosphere, soil and water, increase in concentration up the food chain, travel over long distances around the globe, and are toxic.

The convention currently lists 21 chemicals as POPs, including the pesticide DDT, which can damage reproduction, mental capacity and growth, and cause cancer.
The committee also decided to prepare a risk profile of hexabromocyclododecane (HBCDD), a flame retardant, for possible listing under the convention.

But it postponed a decision on short-chained chlorinated paraffins (SCCP), used in metalworking and paint, to gather more information on how toxic it actually is.