UAE orders to destroy banned pesticides

Owners of banned pesticides within the UAE have 90 days to register and destroy the potentially fatal chemical compounds under new regulations issued by federal authorities.

One year after announcing an extensive ban on 401 of a listed 835 pesticides on record since the mid-2000s, the Ministry of Environment and Water announced on Monday that it is further cracking down on killer chemicals attributed to the deaths of more than five people across the country in 2011.

Officials investigated more than 20 incidents of pesticide poisoning last year in which infestation-ridding chemicals migrated throughout buildings under fumigation and threatened human health.

"Companies, organisations, and private and governmental bodies that own these banned or restricted pesticides will have three months following the issuance of this resolution to notify the ministry, or a specialised authority or body, so they can take the appropriate measures and dispose of these pesticides," said the ministry in a statement.