Mega pollution on mega sites

22-Jan-2016 - Denmark

At the 13th Int. HCH & pesticides Forum, new shocking cases of Mega-sites in Slovakia and Romania, at the eastern borders of the European Community showed the extent and the unacceptable threats to the health of the population.

However, such mega-sites are also still present today in the EU member countries like France, Germany, Poland and Spain. As these sites are huge, mostly nothing has been done, and if, then only simple containment measures have been taken, so therefore a huge threat is increasingly occurring.

IHPA urgently calls upon the national governments in the EU, the European Commission and the GEF, the financial mechanism of the Stockholm Convention, and all governments that have ratified the Stockholm Convention to fulfil their obligations: Develop National Implementation Plans, seek co-operation, invest in facilities for elimination of these dangerous chemicals and for the developed countries to support the countries in development and transition.

For Spain, the Inquinosa case in Aragon is a mega-site of huge dimensions (that even surpasses the extent of the POPs problem of the whole EECCA, Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia region), and enormous consequences that surpasses the capability of the regional Aragon government and needs urgently the Spanish government and European Commission to act fast!!

Between 1974 and 1992 Inquinosa produced 140,000 tons of toxic HCH waste that were buried in several uncontrolled dumps in Sabinanigo

Inquinosa produced lindane, a pesticide banned in the EU since 2000 and worldwide by the Conference of the Parties of the Stockholm Convention in 2009. Currently the pollution affects more than 40,000 people only in the Gallego River basin. The Gallego River flows into the Ebro River. A river that flows through Zaragoza - inhabited by more than 650,000 people. And several times in 2014, the population living at the border of the Rio Gallego was warned of too high Lindane concentrations in its drinking water - more than 20 years after the Inquinosa company stopped its activity!

https://www.chemeurope.com/en/news/156478/mega-pollution-on-mega-sites.html