The prevalence of pesticides may seem like something of a bygone era, one marked by Silent Spring and the Bhopal Disaster, but the grim reality is that they are unfortunately very much around. Whether it is BPA in your water bottle or neonicotinoids decimating bee populations, action has not been uniform.

 

To raise attention to this topic and to provide a global overview, Yale’s Environmental Performance Index now includes an indicator on pesticide regulation, backed up by a complete data set which can be downloaded here: http://goo.gl/ybeOuO, as well as intuitive map, (see photo).

 

It’s a welcome overview of the state of progress on regulation of the so-called “Dirty Dozen” pesticides under the 2001 Stockholm Convention. These dirty dozen are 12 priority pesticides, chemical and by-products as follows:

 

- Pesticides: aldrin, chlordane, DDT, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene;

- Industrial chemicals: hexachlorobenzene, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs); and

- By-products: hexachlorobenzene; polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and polychlorinated dibenzofurans (PCDD/PCDF), and PCBs.

 

PCBs are probably better known, though the rest are carcinogenic and toxic in nature, and used primarily in agriculture.

 

Since 2001, the Stockholm Convention has added nine new “POPs”, or persistent organic pollutants, to the list, including:

 

- Pesticides: chlordecone, alpha hexachlorocyclohexane, beta hexachlorocyclohexane, lindane, pentachlorobenzene;

- Industrial chemicals: hexabromobiphenyl, hexabromodiphenyl ether and heptabromodiphenyl ether, pentachlorobenzene, perfluorooctane sulfonic acid, its salts and perfluorooctane sulfonyl fluoride, tetrabromodiphenyl ether and pentabromodiphenyl ether; and

- By-products: alpha hexachlorocyclohexane, beta hexachlorocyclohexane and pentachlorobenzene.

 

There are of course other pesticides and toxins not covered, but the map is a great introduction to an insidious issue, and how well (or poorly) countries are doing in curbing their use.

 

 

PHOTO: Levels of pesticide regulation by country/toxin.

CREDIT: Yale EPI.