Inventory and Status of Persistent Organic Pollutants – Pesticides in Croatia

Abstract

Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) which include some pesticides are very important environment polluters. Their harmful impact is mainly consisted of their air transmission, resistance to chemical-, photo- and bio-degradation and possibility of their accumulation in fat tissue of all living organisms. As they can be transported by air on long distances, they were found in samples on locations where they were not used. This group of pollutants includes pesticides (such as aldrin, chlordane, dieldrin, endrin, heptachlor, lindane, alpha-hexachlorocyclohexane, beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, toxaphene, DDT), industrial chemicals (such as polychlorinated biphenyls, PCBs) and unintentional by-products of industrial processes (such as dioxins, furans etc.). Because of their high efficacy in agriculture through the middle of twentieth century their consumption was very high. In the meantime their negative impacts appeared and their harmfulness became well known threat to the environment and to human health all over the globe. In this work an overview of inventory and status of POPs in Croatia is given. The emphasis is given on POPs pesticides. In accord with global tendencies to reduce and eliminate production, use and releases of harmful substances a gradual prohibition of pesticides (aldrin, dieldrin, hexachlorocyclohexane, DDT) usage started in Croatia 1972 and ended in 2001 with proscription of lindane and dicofol usage. Up to date all of them are banned from production and application, and no stockpiles are detected. In the period of their common usage, production of POP’s pesticides in Croatia was mainly based as supplement to some fertilizers (aldrin). Today there is no need for their production, since all preparations based on POPs are now substituted with numerous toxicologically and environmentally friendlier active ingredients. Also there is no import and export of POPs through Croatian border, with exception for some institutions which have permission for import of small quantities used as laboratory standards for determination of residual POPs pesticides. Residues of POP’s pesticides are monitored now days only in water. There is still pronounced need for adequately equipped laboratories and trained stuff for their monitoring in vegetables, animals, water, soil and human biomaterial.