It affects the central nervous system and causes vomiting and diarrhoea followed by convulsions if we are exposed to it for just a few hours.  It accumulates in one’s fat, kidneys and liver, severely damaging them as well as harming the reproductive system.  Children are more susceptible to the toxic effects of Lindane, especially when it is used to eliminate head lice in rural communities – just as people in the northern zone of Chiapas have used the insecticide, “Baygon” made by the Bayer company to treat lice.  In the highlands of Chiapas, Lindane is often used by promoters from the Health Secretary to treat head lice in children as young as four months old.  The International Agency for Research into Cancer (IARC) states that there have been reports of digestive tract inflammation, haemorrhaging, coma and death due to Lindane poisoning.  The IARC as well as the United States’ Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) have classified Lindane as a possible human carcinogen.

“Andres Gerardo, a doctor and ex-president of the municipality of Mazatan (1996-1998), remembers the first fumigations in this (Chiapas) municipality – which he was a part of as a child in 1957.  He did not imagine that during his long medical experience he would treat more than 30 cancer patients in Mazatan and that during the planting season he would have to treat one neighbour daily for poisoning.  Perhaps he also didn’t know that would be a doctor nor that in this zone cancer would become the third or fourth greatest cause of mortality, as he knows today.” (Otilia Lopez, “The Silent Deaths”, Milenio Semanal, September 29, 2002).

Those who have been severely exposed to Lindane and/or DDT for periods between 5 to 13 years, show higher rates of cirrhosis and chronic hepatitis.  When there is exposure to small quantities through skin or ingestion, headaches, nausea, dizziness, shakiness and muscular weakness result.  The chronic effects of exposure include nervous alterations and an increase in the weight of the liver.  In the United States, cases of cerebral damage, cancer and death due to Lindane overdoses have been reported.  If it is used extensively on cattle, the possibility of breast cancer increases.  The international authority on food residues, Food Codez (Coder Alimentarius), established that the Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) for Lindane is 0.001 mg/kg of body mass.  The dosage that may cause death in a human adult is between 0.7 and 1.4 g/kg of body mass.  Many cases of human poisoning due to Lindane have been reported.

Lindane is excreted through breast milk.  As it accumulates in human body fat, it can be passed on to the placenta and affect fetal development.  In fact, in various parts of the world – among them, Mexico - - Lindane has been detected not just in breast milk but also in blood and cord serum and human fat and tissues.  The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated for several years that Mexican women have the highest levels of DDT in breast milk in the world.  The highest indices of cancer and leukaemia are found in Veracruz, Michoacan, Coahuila, Nuevo Leon and Chiapas and these are associated with the populations involved in agriculture and ranching.

Coincidentally, in August 2004, a young indigenous woman of 15 years, originating from an Autonomous Zapatista Municipality in Chiapas got very ill.  She spent several days in the Regional Hospital of San Cristobal de las Casas.  She required many blood transfusions after fighting with the medical personnel to get them to treat her decently (the custom is to treat indigenous people with disdain).  After several days and after being transferred to a hospital in Tuxtla Gutierrez, she was diagnosed with cancer of the blood (leukaemia).  The hospital told her that there was no blood, that she must pay for it, that she must buy her medicines, cover the costs of her transfer to the hospital in Tuxtla Gutierrez, that she must buy her treatments which are very expensive, that she must look for another place to stay as there are no beds in the hospital, etc..  With the humanitarian help of friends, she has been able to survive.  President Vicente Fox’s move to stop the pension fund for the IMSS workers (those who work at the publicly funded hospitals) under the pretext that the resources would be used for hospital medicines didn’t help her at all.  We’ll see who will take this story into consideration.

Lindane is also used to control insect plagues in materials such as wood, leather, wool and cotton.  It kills the insects that ingest or inhale its vapour.  It stimulates the central nervous system and results in shaking, hyper-excitation, loss of co-ordination, paralysis and even death.  It is presumed to alter hormones and to be capable of imitating certain hormones in human beings, altering body functions.  Nonetheless, there is evidence that Lindane can cause deformities and affect the immune system that protects us against infections and diseases.  Lindane also appears on labels as “benzene hexachloride”.  It is a chemical insecticide that entered the world market in the fifties.  Although it is classified by the WHO as “moderately dangerous” owing to its acute toxicity in the short term, it’s large persistence in the environment and the fact that it is soluble in animal and vegetable fats.  It easily accumulates in fish, beef, milk, butter and cheese.  There is research that associates the death of trout and bats with exposure to Lindane.  It is also highly toxic to certain bees.

For every 10 tonnes of Lindane that is produced, 85 tonnes of toxic waste are generated.  Moreover, it is an insecticide that degrades more slowly in cold places.  Its half-life in soil is two years.  That is to say, two years after applying lindano to the soil, one would encounter half the original amount; after four years, one quarter.  In water, its half-life is from one to ten months and in the atmosphere, 2-13 days.  It has been found in sewers in the United States and Europe as well as in the rain in Tokyo.  A recent investigation into bottled water in India showed high levels of Lindane among other highly toxic pesticides such as DDT and Malathion and for this reason, a campaign was launched against Coca-Cola for selling its contaminated Coca-Colas.  These chemicals are intensively sprayed on the lands of Soconusco in Chiapas. 

For some time now, the rate of cancer in Mexico has been increasing, in such as way that, since 1989, it has been registered as the number two cause of death in the country.  This year there were 40 628 deaths (48.2 per 100 000 inhabitants), lung, stomach and uterine tract cancers being the most frequent cases.  According to the National Cancer Institute, since that year, cancer is responsible for 12% of all deaths that are registered in Mexico.  Curiously, in the city of Comitan, where many pigs are grown, forming an important part of the food diet in the zone and, as in the coastal region of Chiapas, the high rate of stomach cancer in people living in the city make it the number one place in the world for this disease, according to many of its inhabitants.  In the Comitan region, as in other indigenous and campesino communities of Chiapas, Lindane is widely used to kill lice and to attack mange in pigs.  It is also used in its powder form on corn with the goal of storing the corn and preventing moths from getting to it or to prevent weevils from eating the beans.  In this border region, constant fumigations of the plantings of indigenous communities have been going on for years, spraying also their homes, their domestic animals, the cornfields and their coffee plants.  Many of the bee populations have been eliminated and with that, the producers of honey.  And the thing is, Lindane also highly contaminates soils, rivers, wells, lakes and underground water. 

The consequences of the fumigations in the Soconusco region of Chiapas are also very serious.  It’s so bad that in the border city of Tapachula, there is a hospital for people who are sick with cancer.  “The cancer specialist, oncologist, Raul Cano Castellanos of the Cancer Centre in Tapachula, alerted, through press releases, that the use and abuse of agri-chemicals in the Soconusco region keeps more than 75 000 inhabitants in 16 municipalities at risk of contracting some type of cancer.  And, that cervical and uterine cancer has become the principal cause of death in women.”  (Otilia Lopez, “The Silent Deaths”, Milenio Semanal, September 29^th, 2002).

“In 1976, Doctor Perez Esquivel, a paediatrician at the Regional Hospital of Tapachula, encountered 20 patients in the pediatrics lounge, of whom 16 had at least a congenital deformation.  This unpleasant surprise forced him to begin to the study that he’s been doing since then into registered deformations at the Tapachula Hospital.  According to the first part of this study, of 108 cases, the principal predisposing factor is the relation to fumigants and pesticides (25.9% of the cases).  ‘What’s going on is serious – he says -- .  I believe that Tapachula amply surpasses the world index (which is 3%) for those hospitalized for agri-chemical poisoning’. (Otilia Lopez, “The Silent Deaths”, Milenio Semanal, September 29^th, 2002).

Once freed into the environment, Lindane can be transported large distances by air, water and sediments.  Lindane is present in the entire global environment.  The Los Angeles County Health District in the United States calculated that just one application of Lindane in shampoo to fight lice and mange that goes down the drain can contaminate up to 22.6 million litres of water.  In the atmosphere Lindane evaporates and condenses later allowing it to fall in far removed places such as Alaska, where the indigenous Inuit people have been harmed by consuming foods contaminated with Lindane, given that Lindane quickly concentrates in invertebrate animals, fish, birds, seals and other animals in cold places. 

In India, Lindane is used to control plagues that affect cotton, sugar cane, squash, cabbage, apples, nuts, corn, okra, potatoes, tomatoes, cauliflower, radish, cucumber and beans.  Recently, that country prohibited its use to control malaria mosquitoes.  In Canada, where all its applications will be gradually eliminated beginning in December 2004, its use is permitted on fruit crops, in greenhouses and it has been widely used to treat canola seeds – up to 80% of it’s the total use of Lindane in that country – where this type of seed comes from to be used to make cooking oils in Mexico.  In Nigeria, Lindane is widely used to control the cola nut.  In Uganda, it is used illegally to poison and capture fish in some rivers and in Victoria Lake.  In Africa, reserves of past-date Lindane are used illegally.  In other place it is used to control flies, fleas, cockroaches, mosquitoes, bedbugs and beetles.  Recent research has demonstrated that head lice are becoming resistant to pesticides such as Lindane, Permethrin and Malathion. There are reports of lice resistance to Lindane in Great Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Canada, Denmark and the United States.

Owing to its persistence, toxicity, bioaccumulation and ability to be transported large distances, Lindane is a candidate to be included on the list of new Persistent Organic Contaminants (POC) to be eliminated globally under the Stockholm Convention.  The International Network Against Pesticides has promoted its worldwide prohibition since 1985.  To date, the use of Lindane has been prohibited in 17 countries: Colombia, Costa Rica, Denmark, Finland, Gambia, Honduras, Hungary, Indonesia, Kuwait, New Zealand, Holland, Santa Lucia, Slovenia, South Africa, South Korea, Sweden and Turkey.  In 20 other nations its use has been severely restricted while the European Union has prohibited it for agricultural and garden uses.  In the United States and Canada, its veterinary use is prohibited.  In Canada all of its uses for livestock and agriculture will be cancelled as of December 2004.  In the United States, the testing requirements for Lindane and the protection of the workers using it, are being increased.  Although its use against lice and scabies in humans is permitted, in the state of California, it has been prohibited since the year 2002 and there is a legal initiative to ban it in New York. 

The Rotterdam Convention’s proposal regarding the Prior Consent Procedure includes that the country exporting the chemical must inform the purchasing country if the product is prohibited in other countries or if it has serious restrictions on its use.  Forty countries have signed the convention as of March 2003 while 50 nations are required to approve it for the convention to go into force.  Lindane is also found to have been restricted since 1983 under the International Protocol on Transborder Contamination and Long Distance in force in Europe, Central Asia, the United States and Canada.  In May 2001, the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Contaminants (POC) was approved, which would imply the prohibition throughout the world of 12 chemical products (among them, Lindane) for being very toxic to humans and wildlife and for their serious impacts on the global environment.  This convention will come into effect if ratified by 50 countries. 

WHO PRODUCES IT?

Romania, India and China are the only places in the world where Lindane is produced.  Between 1990 and 1995, 3 222 tonnes of Lindane were produced annually throughout the world.  World demand in 1997 was approximately 3 000 metric tonnes.  A good portion of the consumption – almost half – corresponded to Europe which later prohibited most of its uses.  Canada and the United States are other large consumers (700 tonnes between the two).  Although South-East Asia increased its use, it is also used in Eastern Europe, Russia, Central America, South America, Africa, the Middle East and Australia.  For its part, the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) stated that in Africa there are stockpiles of more than 320 metric tonnes (322 642 kilos) of Lindane.  In Cameroon there are abandoned piles of past-date Lindane exposed to the environment. 

WHY IS IT PERMITTED IN MEXICO?

In Mexico, the Health Secretary includes Lindane in its basic description of medicines and authorizes the inclusion of Lindane in lotions, shampoos, soaps and skin treatments related to lice and scabies in children and adults (before it was also permitted for scorpions) and for cattle and pig baths to eliminate ticks and other parasites.  It is also authorised as an insecticide to control plagues and to protect the seeds of six crops: oats, barley, beans, corn, sorghum and wheat; and to be applied directly to the soil of corn and sorghum crops (Canada permits its legal application on 17 crops and the United States allows it on 19 crops).  The Official Pesticides Catalogue of Mexico lists as a contraindication that Lindane should not be applied directly into river, lake or reservoir waters that it should not be used on animals under three months of age, though the Health Secretary applies it to children of three to four months of age in indigenous communities.  It is also supposedly not to be used on poultry farms, felines, dairy farms, and stables or at milking places.  Nonetheless, there is no mechanism to verify that this criterion is met.  In Mexico, Lindane has been found in coastal lakes, soil, the tissues of fish and other aquatic organisms, cow’s milk and butter.  But it’s not just the foods produced in Mexico using Lindane that are contaminated but also in that which is imported.  The food that has the highest levels of Lindane is produced in Europe for consumption in cereals, red meat and tomatoes. 

In Mexico, Lindane was produced by the Tekchem company in Salamanca in the state of Guanajuato but for years now, the country has imported it through the Spanish transnational, Industrias Químicas del Noreste (Inquinosa), [Northeast Chemical Industries in English], company which, in April 2003, was forced to pay 6.5 million euros for illegally spilling its waste from its factory in Sabananigo, Huesca, into two municipal landfills, contaminating the Gallego River.  From Spain, Inquinosa went to Romania to continue its production of Lindane along with its co-investor, the Oltchim Company.  In 1997, Inquinosa formed the Inquinosa International company to import and export chemical products.  In 1998, it became affiliated with the JLM International Inc. company with headquarters in Florida, U.S.A., forming a network of affiliates in various countries. 

Even though there are fewer and fewer companies in Mexico selling and producing Lindane, the Health Secretary registered the importation of 24 tonnes of Lindane’s technical product or stock concentration in 1997; 27 in 2000 and 14 in 2001.  Nonetheless, the technical product, once formulated, changes the quantity:  from 10 tonnes of Lindane’s technical product, 100 tonnes of the product, formulated at 1% for seeds is sold.  According to the Federal Commission for Protection Against Health Risks (September 2003), products to treat lice and scabies in the form of creams, soaps or shampoos and that contain Lindane, are sold by Armstrong Laboratories (Herr-Klin); Grisi-Grisi Laboratories (Lindano); Bruluat Laboratories (ScabisinalLind); Darier Laboratories Best (Dnorex); Chinoin Scabisan Laboratories (Lindano); Lindane Normes Chemist and Pharmacy (Lindane); Astra Her-Klin (Lindane); and Piosiun Pharmaceutical Products (Lindane). 

For agricultural use, there are three companies that sell Lindane (though it is possible that there are stockpiles of products sold in the past by other companies that have disappeared); 1)  Agromundo which sells Lindane stock concentration and Lindano Prisma (Lindano is Spanish for Lindane) to treat cows, horses, sheep, goats and fisheries; 2) Ingenieria Industrial sells stock Lindane; and 3) Gustafson Industries which became part of Bayer as of March 31^st, 2004 sells Germate Plus and bean and corn seed treatment.  In 2001, Bayer bought the Aventis CropScience company (a fusion of Helios Laboratories, AgrEvo and Rhone Poulene).  As we mentioned above, in many indigenous communities in Chiapas, the use of Bayer’s Baygon insecticide to treat lice in children is common. 

Two years ago some of the pesticides that are banned in other countries but permitted in Mexico were announced:  Alahor, Aldicarb,Azinphos methyl, Captafol,  Carbarilo, Captan, Chlordane, DDT, Dicofol, Diurno, Endosulfan, Forato, Fosfamidon, Kadetrina, Linuron, Maneb, Metidation, Metamidofos, Metoxicloro, Mevinphos, Monocrotophos, Omethoate, Oxyfluorfen, Paraquat, Parathion methyl, Pentachlorophenol, Quintoceno, Sulprofos,Ttriazophos, Tridemorf, Vamidothion, 2-4-D.

In the document regarding Persistent Organic Contaminants in Mexico, Greenpeace confirmed that: “Residues of DDT and its metabolites have been found in eggs, milk, cheese, butter and cream in the region of Comarca Lagunera (1975, 1981 and 1987), Mexico City (1978 and 1981) and in Soconusco, Chiapas (1990 and 1988).  DDT and its metabolites have also been detected in adipose and breast tissue in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico City, Puebla, Ciudad Juarez and Veracruz from 1975 to 1995.  In a study carried out on indigenous children from four to five years old living in the Yaqui valley, children whose mothers were found to have aldrin, endrin, dieldrin, heptachlorine and DDE in their breast milk and umbilical cord blood were also found to have diminished co-ordination, reduced memory and to do poorer on physical tests in comparison to children less exposed”.

ALTERNATIVES

It is necessary to recoup good health, healthy eating and an ecological equilibrium in the indigenous and campesino communities of Chiapas and in the rest of the country.  Perhaps one of the priorities of the Autonomous Zapatista Municipalities could be the elimination of all agri-chemicals.  In fact, in one Zapatista region, they have already arrived at an agreement to not buy any agri-chemical for plantings or veterinary use.  Lamentably, the owner of the small store threw all of the unsold and past-date products into the river. 

For the indigenous and campesino communities among the most effective remedies is prevention and good hygiene practices such as daily inspection of the children’s hair or the use of combs with lots of teeth to help in the removal of the lice eggs.  There are also products made from natural oils or from plants such as the quassia amara, rue, rosemary, cherimoya, higuerilla, etc..  This is where doctors, shaman, healers and indigenous midwives can play an important role in the communities. 

The alternatives with the least risk to health and the environment are the techniques of agri-ecological controls such as organic fertilization of soil, the improvement of native seeds, the use of native resistant varieties and the rotation and exchange of crops.  It is also necessary to recover other traditional campesino practices for conserving and storing seeds.  To reduce the populations of ticks and other parasites in cattle, other alternatives can be used in the management of pasture land, decrease the intensive use of cattle and produce more varieties of animal and vegetable foods for family and community consumption.  There have also been successful experiences with organic cattle farms that do not use pesticides, hormones or antibiotics in the production of milk or meat for human consumption. 

In pig production, improved hygiene and healthiness can be used to reduce parasites and thus the necessity for Lindane.  Garlic can be included in the daily diet and at the same time it will amplify local production and biodiversity possibilities.  To prevent insects in canola crops, crop rotation, early planting, using larger seeds and increasing the density of the seeds are recommended.  In the case of rice, crop rotation, winter plowing, using clean cultivation which implies the total cleaning of pasture lands, harvests and burning very close to the soil to reduce stubble, late transplanting, hand picking of egg masses and using UV light traps are recommended. 

URGENT ACTION

In the framework of the North America Free Trade Accord (NAFTA), the environmental authorities of Mexico (Semarnat), through the working group of the Environmental Cooperation Commission (ECC), with its counterparts in the United States and Canada, attempt to elaborate a Regional Management Plan for Lindane to be approved in 2005 with the goal of putting in place measures for the restriction of and/or the elimination of this pesticide.  The government should carry out a public consultation (not only with the companies) regarding this plan.  The Health Secretary is considering banning the use of Lindane but given the pressure from the Lindane industry, it is urgent that citizens apply their own pressure.  Food sovereignty and the health of the people are at stake.  It is necessary to support the campaigns for the government to ratify the Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions.

Among the actions that citizens can take is not buying Lindane products (it is necessary to learn to always review the list of ingredients stated on the product labels to identify them).  One can look for natural alternatives and avoid using the technological packets for monoculture production that are distributed with the government’s help; disseminate information and join the campaign to ban Lindane as promoted by the Action on Pesticides and their Alternatives Network (RAPAM in Spanish) by sending a letter to Mexican authorities.  Already, more than 140 environmental organizations, citizens, campesinos, indigenous peoples, researchers and individuals have signed a letter during first half of 2004 directed to the environmental and health authorities in which they demand:

“The banning of Lindane in Mexico for all its uses including its pharmaceutical, veterinarian and agricultural uses; given that this position is one which promotes negotiations to adopt the Environmental Co-operation Commission’s, Regional Management Plan for Lindane in North America.“

“The promise to spread awareness of chemical and non-chemical alternatives to all uses of Lindane that are pose less of a risk, giving priority support to non-chemical alternatives.”

“The implementation of education programs regarding the risks of using Lindane to the exposed population, especially infant and parent populations, and the populations of the different indigenous peoples”.

“Mexico’s support for the inclusion of Lindane in the list of new substances to be eliminated in the Stockholm Accord on Persistent Organic Contaminants”.

“The solidarity of environmental organizations, citizens and especially of the Inuit indigenous peoples of Alaska for the elimination of Lindane in the United States and Canada within the Regional Management Plan of the Environmental Cooperation Commission”.

In May 2004, the Federal Commission for the Protection Against Environmental Risks responded to the Action on Pesticides and Alternatives in Mexico Network (RAPAM) that, “By instruction of Mr. Ernesto Enriquez Rubio, Federal Commissioner for the Protection Against Health Risks, with relation to the office directed by Dr. Julio Frenk Mora, the Health Secretary, through whom the message of the more than 120 environmental organizations, citizens, campesinos, researchers and individuals was transmitted, regarding the banning of Lindane in Mexico in all its uses including pharmaceutical, veterinary and agricultural uses, I am permitted to inform you that we have begun an analysis of the legal process for the revocation of Lindano’s registration and shortly we will let you know through an official communiqué the final resolution.”  This means that the resolution could take 3 or 4 months so that in the month of September, 2004, a response is hoped for, even as the companies try to first sell all of the existing Lindane in the country before the ban.  At any rate it seems rather difficult given that, according to RAPAM, “Fox announced a one-year moratorium on all environmental, health and other regulations in order to attract foreign investment.”

Note:  All information here regarding Lindane is taken from, “No to Lindane” (Mexico 2004), by author Fernando Bejarano of RAPAM, member of the Action on Pesticides and Their Alternatives Network (RAPAL in Spanish) and the International Network for the Elimination of Persistent Organic Contaminants (IPEN).  For more information refer to rapam@prodigy.net.mx; www.rap-al.org, www.ipen.org. Refer also to RAPAM directly: Amado Nervo Street 23, int.2, Col. San Juanito, CP 56121, Texcoco, Mexico State. Tel. and fax (595) 9547744.  Information is also taken from “Lindane, Common Questions and Answers”, by  Madhumita Dutta and Kristin S. Schafer of IPEN’s Working Group on Pesticides, May 2003.

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