Annex
24 January 1997
Pesticides
aldrin: is a soil insecticide to control root worms and beetles on crops like maize
and cotton, and to control termites.
chlordane: is a pesticide for use on crops like maize and citrus and on lawns and
gardens, and to control termites.
chlordecone (kepone): is an insecticide.
DDT: is a chemical to control insects on agricultural crops and insects that carry
diseases like malaria and typhus.
dieldrin: is a pesticide to treat soil and seeds and to control disease vectors such
as mosquitoes and tsetse flies. It also has veterinary use as a sheep dip and is
used to treat wood and mothproof woolen products.
endrin: is a pesticide to control insects and rodents.
heptachlor: is an insecticide to kill insects in buildings and on food crops.
hexachlorobenzene (HCB): is a wood preservative and a fungicide for treating
seeds.
mirex: is an insecticide to control ants, and a fire-retardant additive.
toxaphene: is an insecticide to control insect pests on cotton, banana, pineapple
and other crops. It is also used to control insect pests on livestock and to kill
unwanted fish species in lakes.
lindane: or Gamma-HCH is an insecticide for use on fruit, vegetable, and forest
crops (including Christmas trees!) and in ointments to treat lice and scabies, a
contagious skin disease caused by mites.
pentachlorophenol: is a biocide and wood preservative used especially for power
line poles, railway sleepers and fence posts.
Industrial chemicals
hexabromobiphenyl: is used as a flame retardant additive in synthetic fibres and
moulded plastics by manufacturers of, for instance, polyesters and polystyrene.
polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs): are a family of man-made chemicals. Because of
their insulating and nonflammable properties, PCBs are used widely in flame
retardants and as coolants and lubricants in transformers, capacitors, and other
electrical equipment.
short-chain chlorinated paraffins: are used in metal-working fluids, flame retardants
in rubbers and textiles, in leather processing, and in paints and coatings.
By-products or contaminants
dioxins and furans: are by-products of the chlorine industry, especially the
manufacture, disposal and combustion of the chlorinated plastic PVC. Dioxin hit
the headlines twenty years ago, following an explosion at a chemical plant in
Seveso, Italy, when a cloud of the herbicide 2,4,5-T contaminated the surrounding
area. Dioxin forms as a by-product in the manufacture of 2,4,5-T.
polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs): are a group of chemicals that are
released, for example, during the incomplete burning of coal, oil and gas, or other
organic substances. It is contained in such products as creosote and tar.
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