Former Soviet Union: Hunting down hundreds of thousands of tons of old but still toxic pesticides
Following the collapse of the Soviet Union hundreds of thousands of tons of toxic pesticides were discarded and forgotten. DDT, lindane and other organochlorine-based pesticides were buried at hundreds of largely unrecorded burial sites or left in thousands of abandoned warehouses throughout the region. The pesticides have been leaching toxins into nearby waterways and soil over the last twenty years. A broad partnership including FAO, Green Cross Switzerland and the Tomsk-based NGO Siberian Environmental Agency, WHO, UNEP, International HCH & Pesticides Association, Milieukontakt International , and Blacksmith Institute for a Pure Earth, are working with a local group of experts in Siberia to uncover these toxic sites for remediation. This lays the base for future remediation of these sites including related disposal.
