Montreal, 8/08/2006 – The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC) is pleased to note that its continental initiative to reduce the risk of exposure to the toxic pesticide lindane has gained considerable momentum.

Lindane was used as a grain seed treatment.

Lindane, also known as gamma-hexachlorocyclohexane, (γ-HCH), gammaxene, Gammallin and erroneously known as benzene hexachloride (BHC), is an organochlorine chemical variant of hexachlorocyclohexane that has been used both as an agricultural insecticide and as a pharmaceutical treatment for infestations of lice and scabies.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced (1 August) that lindane manufacturers in the United States have voluntarily agreed to withdraw registration of this persistent, toxic and bioaccumulative chemical for its last six remaining agricultural uses.

This announcement underlines the success of the CEC’s four-year effort to develop its North American Regional Action Plan on Lindane and Other Hexachlorocyclohexane Isomers (lindane NARAP). Similar NARAPs on chlordane and DDT successfully eliminated the use of these pesticides in North America, and plans are currently in place to reduce the impact of mercury and PCBs on the environment.

Lindane belongs to a family of toxic chemicals known as organochlorines. DDT, which has been phased-out across North America, is also one of these substances. These chemicals tend to persist in the environment for a very long time; they are also toxic and tend to accumulate in the tissues of living organisms including humans.

The lindane NARAP being developed by Canada, Mexico and the United States has helped determine the many current sources of this pesticide, including its production outside North America. It will offer options for the three countries to further reduce the risk of exposure and set out a program to coordinate monitoring and assessment on a continental basis.

This announcement by the EPA and the United States’ pesticide industry supports the recent ban on agricultural uses in Canada and the planned elimination of all lindane uses in Mexico. The CEC anticipates these actions will influence decisions regarding the status of lindane under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.

There are several alternative substances for lindane. Use of the chemical as a pharmaceutical treatment for head lice and scabies will still be authorized in Canada and the United States, but generally only in cases where no other treatment has been effective.

Source:  The Commission for Environmental Cooperation (CEC)

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Source: http://www.farmtownguide.com