Bangladesh officially declared hazardous insecticide DDT free

Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh officially declared that the country is now free of the hazardous insecticide Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT).
Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister Md Shahab Uddin on Sunday made the announcement in a press briefing organised by the ministry, marking the successful removal of 500 tonnes of DDT from the medical sub-depot of Chattogram, and the achievement of the World Biodiversity Conference.
The Department of Health had imported 500 tonnes of DDT insecticide in 1985 to implement the malaria control programme.
The United States banned the use of DDT in 1972.
The worldwide ban on pesticide DDT by 2020 was rejected at the sixth Conference in the Parties (CoP) to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Geneva.
The proposal was strongly opposed by India, the largest producer of DDT. India is the only country still manufacturing the pesticide dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane, better known at DDT. China ceased production of DDT in the year 2007. Public sector firm Hindustan Insecticide Limited (HIL) is the only producer of DDT in India.
DDT was developed in the 1940s and was initially used with great effect to combat malaria, typhus, and the other insect-borne human diseases, and for insect control in crop and livestock production, institutions, homes, and gardens.
 However, the chemical’s quick success as a pesticide and broad use in the United States and other countries led to the development of resistance in many insect pest species.
Bangladesh imported and unused dangerous organic chemical pesticide DDT, considered of low quality, was kept in stock in the medical sub-depot of the Health Department at Agrabad in Chattogram, Md Shahab Uddin said.
According to the Environment, Forest and Climate Change Minister, in view of the aforementioned situation, the Ministry of Forests and Climate Change undertook a project titled “Pesticide Risk Reduction in Bangladesh” with the funding of the Global Environment Facility and technical support from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations.
Despite various obstacles, it was possible to completely export the toxic substance to France on 10 December 2022, he added.
Shahab Uddin thanked all concerned and said that public health and environmental protection have been made possible as a result of this removal.
An international commitment of Bangladesh has been fulfilled with the export of DDT, a product banned in the Stockholm Convention, the Minister continued.
At the media event, the minister highlighted the achievements of the World Biodiversity Conference held in Montreal, Canada from 7-19 December 2022.
Shahab Uddin said, in the speech given on behalf of Bangladesh in the high-level segment of the conference, he called on the developed world to increase the significant amount of support for the implementation of the Global Biodiversity Framework after 2020 and to spend at least 1% of the world’s GDP on biodiversity conservation.
The Minister said the vision of “Living Harmony with Nature” by 2050 and the “Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework” was adopted at the Biodiversity Conference with the aim of preventing and protecting biodiversity and ecosystem damage by 2030.
The framework has set 23 targets under four objectives. Under this framework, the country’s “National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan” will be updated.
One of these goals is to conserve 30% of the world’s terrestrial and aquatic environments and to secure at least $200 billion in funding per year from all sources by 2030 for biodiversity conservation.
Several other documents titled Sustainable Wildlife Management, Nature and Culture, Coastal and Marine Biodiversity, Biodiversity and Agriculture, Biodiversity and Climate Change, Invasive Alien Species, and Synthetic Biology were accepted in the conference, the minister said, adding that the next action plan will be determined by meeting with all the ministries/departments, offices/organisations concerned with the said documents.
Shahab Uddin said Bangladesh has convened the conference in solidarity with other countries to come forward with the goal of ensuring that the developed world receives adequate financial, technical and technological assistance.
In that context, it has been decided at the World Biodiversity Conference that the Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) fund will be established in 2023 by the Global Environment Facility, he said.
The minister said Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has already pledged to provide $350 million in financial assistance to developing countries for the implementation of GBF and the conservation of biodiversity.
However, exposure to DDT in people likely occurs from eating foods, including meat, fish, and dairy products. DDT exposure can occur by eating, breathing, or touching products contaminated with DDT. DDT can convert into DDE, and both persist in body and environment. In the body, DDT converts into several breakdown products called metabolites, including the metabolite dichlorodiphenyldichloroethene (DDE). The body’s fatty tissues store DDT and DDE. In pregnant women, DDT and DDE exposure can occur in the fetus. Both chemicals can be in breast milk, resulting in exposure to nursing infants.
Human health effects from DDT at low environmental doses are unknown. Following exposure to high doses, human symptoms can include vomiting, tremors or shakiness, and seizures. Laboratory animal studies show DDT exposure can affect the liver and reproduction. DDT is a possible human carcinogen according to the US and the International authorities.