Switzerland Wants Paraquat Placed on Caution List
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Switzerland Wants Paraquat Placed on Caution List
Date:
Fri, 6 Dec 2002 11:06:02 -0500
From:
Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide
Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
BERNE, Switzerland, December 2, 2002 (ENS) - The Swiss government says it will support efforts to add the pesticide paraquat to Annex III of the Rotterdam Convention to protect developing countries from its harmful consequences. The pesticide is produced by the Syngenta corporation. Product names include Crisquat, Cyclone, Dextrone, Dexuron, Gramoxone Extra, Herbaxone, Ortho Weed and Spot Killer, and Sweep.
Classified by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as a highly toxic compound in toxicity class I, it may be found in formulations with many other herbicides, including simazine and diquat dibromide.
The Berne Declaration and other nongovernmental organizations from around the world welcomed the Swiss government's announcement.
The Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade was ratified by Switzerland on January 10. The convention stipulates that certain chemicals and pesticides may not be exported without the express approval of the importing country. The protection offered by the convention is important for farmers and farm workers in developing countries.
Due to its high toxicity, especially if misused, paraquat was banned for use in Switzerland after December 31, 1989. After Finland and Sweden, Switzerland was one of the first countries to ban the product. Other countries - among them Austria, Denmark, Slovenia, and, only recently, Malaysia - have since followed suit. Companies such as Chiquita have stopped using the product.
Paraquat is one of the best selling products of Syngenta, a Basel based agri-chemical corporation. An international coalition of NGOs has been pressuring Syngenta since April 2002 to stop production of this pesticide.
"If even Switzerland bans paraquat because of its extreme toxicity it is high time for Syngenta to take the product off the market" says Francois Meienberg of the Berne Declaration.
"But Syngenta buries its head in the sand and desperately holds on to its product. With the new production facility in China the company even intend to increase sales to Third World countries," said Meienberg.
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