NewsWhore
11-25-2009, 04:10 PM
The DR is signatory to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Montreal Protocol that limit the use or importation of deadly pesticides and substances. Despite all this, the importation of several toxic substances persists. Hoy attributes the situation to a weak legal and judicial system and inadequate controls on the Haitian/Dominican border.
For instance, bromothane (bromuro de metilo) is still being used to fumigate imported cargo shipments, according to the newspaper. A known carcinogen, the substance has been banned in the DR since 1991. Furosa is the only company that imports the substance.
Another powerful herbicide, Paraquat, is consistently imported to the DR. Its users argue there is no other powerful alternative to use for flower crop fumigation.
Hoy also reports that as of 2004 there have been reported cases on the use of lindane, a substance prohibited by the Stockholm Convention. Hoy reports that as recently as 2005 traces of DDT were found in Constanza, a major farming area, and that Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), which are also on the prohibited list, are commonly used by the DR's energy sector. PCBs have been used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitators and other electrical equipment because they don't burn easily and are good insulators. The manufacture of PCBs was stopped in the US in 1977 because of evidence they build up in the environment and can lead to harmful health effects.
According to Elsa Ferreras from the Ministry of Environment's Toxic Substance and Dangerous Residuals Department, the reason these substances still enter the DR is because as a developing country there are not enough funds to monitor for substances that have been discontinued.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)
For instance, bromothane (bromuro de metilo) is still being used to fumigate imported cargo shipments, according to the newspaper. A known carcinogen, the substance has been banned in the DR since 1991. Furosa is the only company that imports the substance.
Another powerful herbicide, Paraquat, is consistently imported to the DR. Its users argue there is no other powerful alternative to use for flower crop fumigation.
Hoy also reports that as of 2004 there have been reported cases on the use of lindane, a substance prohibited by the Stockholm Convention. Hoy reports that as recently as 2005 traces of DDT were found in Constanza, a major farming area, and that Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), which are also on the prohibited list, are commonly used by the DR's energy sector. PCBs have been used as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitators and other electrical equipment because they don't burn easily and are good insulators. The manufacture of PCBs was stopped in the US in 1977 because of evidence they build up in the environment and can lead to harmful health effects.
According to Elsa Ferreras from the Ministry of Environment's Toxic Substance and Dangerous Residuals Department, the reason these substances still enter the DR is because as a developing country there are not enough funds to monitor for substances that have been discontinued.
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#5)