Toxic DDT stockpile removed at Ctg after 4 decades

What is thought to be the world’s largest remaining stockpile of the now banned pesticide Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT) left in Chattogram city for 37 years has finally been removed.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has supported Bangladesh government to dispose of DDT safely and to clean up the storage site in a complex international operation, said a press release issued on Wednesday.

The final batch of repackaged DDT will be loaded on to a ship later this week and then the entire consignment will set sail for France where the waste will be incinerated at a specialist facility in the country, it said.

Bangladesh imported 500 tonnes (5,00,000 kg) of the pesticide in 1985 to control malaria-carrying mosquitos but the consignment was deemed technically non-compliant. Upon arrival, it was put into a government compound, the Medical Sub-Depot of the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS), in Agrabad. Over the years, many of the boxes and bags disintegrated leaving exposed piles of the white DDT powder. In 1991 Bangladesh imposed a DDT ban but the huge consignment remained, according to the release.

To mark the completion of the DDT removal operation, a closing event was held on Wednesday at Radisson Blu hotel in Chattogram where the guest of honour was Md Ashraf Uddin, Divisional Commissioner, Chattogram.

Special guests were Sanjay Kumar Bhowmik, Additional Secretary (Environment Wing), Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change; and Dr Abdul Hamid, Director General (Additional Secretary) Department of Environment. The chief guest was Md. Mostafa Kamal, Secretary, Ministry of Shipping. Dr. Farhina Ahmed, Secretary, Ministry of Environment Forest and Climate Change, chaired the event.

Describing the legacy DDT as “highly unusual,” FAO consultant Mark Davis, an expert on obsolete pesticides, said, “This is the largest amount of the pesticide removed from a single location that I’m aware of. It’s also highly unusual in that it was stored in the middle of a city and because it was there for so long.”

Since DDT does not break down, the consignment has exactly the same concentration of active ingredient today as it did when it was manufactured. DDT is toxic to humans and other organisms. It harms fertility and reproductive processes, disrupts hormonal systems, and is a probable carcinogen. As a persistent organic pollutant (POP), it accumulates in the bodies of humans and animals, as well as the wider environment.

Due to the urban location, special precautions were taken to ensure that the DDT removal operation did not create dust. The buildings were sealed and operated under negative air pressure to ensure that everything stayed inside.