Indonesia defends decision to export DDT stock to Nepal
By T. Sima Gunawan
JAKARTA (JP): The government has defended its decision to unload some of its stock of DDT, a pesticide hazardous to health and the environment, to Nepal stressing that it was at the request of the importing country.
Dr. Hadi M. Abednego, the Director General of Communicable Disease Control and Environmental Health at the Ministry of Health, said that Nepal needs dichloro-diphenyl trichloro-ethane, popularly known as DDT, in its drive to eliminate malaria.
"We are exporting the DDT upon the request of the Nepal health minister," Abednego told The Jakarta Post on Tuesday.
Indonesia, which outlawed the use of DDT in 1990, has been exporting from its remaining stock to Nepal and Myanmar. Last year, it shipped 200 tons to Nepal and 100 tons to Myanmar. It is in the process of preparing the shipment of another 100 tons to Nepal.
The objection to another shipment came from the Pesticide Watch of Nepal, a forum of local environmental journalists, who recently sent a letter to the Indonesian government pleading that the DDT export be discontinued because of the hazardous effects on the environment.
The forum sent its message through the Indonesia Pesticide Action Network (PAN Indonesia) asking it to persuade the Indonesian government not to send what it calls a "poison gift" to Nepal.
Riza V. Tjahjadi, PAN Indonesia executive manager, said Indonesia should simply destroy all remaining DDT it still has in stock, instead of exporting it to a foreign country.
Riza said that one of the most devastating impacts of DDT on humans is its affect on male fertility.
Abednego however pointed out that the DDT export has the endorsement of the World Health Organization (WHO), which is paying the transportation costs.
He conceded that Indonesia stopped using DDT to eradicate malaria because it contained a chemical which could be harmful to human health and the environment.
"When the government made the decision to ban DDT, we still had quite a lot of it in stock. Therefore we are glad that we can give it away to countries in need."
Powerful
DDT is a powerful insecticide that has been in wide use for many years to cope with disease transmitting insects. About 50 countries, including Indonesia, however, have now outlawed DDT.
Nepal first showed its interest in importing DDT from Indonesia during the annual South, East Asian health ministerial meeting in Katmandu in 1992, Abednego said. Nepal needed the pesticide to fight malaria and other diseases caused by insects.
Asked if Indonesia informed Nepal about DDT's negative effects, he said: "Everybody knows about it."
Deputy Director of WHO's office in Jakarta, Dr. Bambang Winardi, defended WHO's decision to approve the import of DDT, saying that the possibilities of deaths caused by malaria was greater than the negative effects of DDT.
He acknowledged that DDT could cause cancer or other diseases but so far there has never been any documented cases.
"Indonesia stopped using DDT because it can afford other pesticides which contain less toxic chemicals, but not all countries have the money to buy them," Bambang told the Post.
As a powerful pesticide, the chemical contained in DDT can stay active from between three to six months while other pesticides disperse within a day or two, Bambang said. "In other words, from the environmental point of view DDT is harmful, but from the health point of view it is helpful."
Indonesia has another 300 tons of the pesticide in stock, according to Dr. Soesilo Soerjosembodo, Director of Vector Borne Disease Control.
He said if there are no more requests from other countries, the DDT might be destroyed in accordance with existing procedures.
Malaria is still a problem in some areas of the country, especially in eastern parts. An average of 4.5 out of 100 people outside Java and Bali contracted the disease last year, while the rate in Java and Bali was 0.19 per 100 people. In 1969 an average of 15 out of a 100 people outside Java and Bali caught the disease, compared to 1.5 per 100 people in Java and Bali, Dr. Soesilo said.