TL: ORGANOPHOSPHORUS PESTICIDES IN GREECE SO: Greenpeace Greece (GP) DT: January 1991 Keywords: greece europe mediterranean toxics pesticides phosphates gp reports trade alternatives / GREENPEACE-GREECE ORGANOPHOSPHORUS PESTICIDES IN GREECE By: Stelios Psomas Athens, January 1991 (for info call: Greenpeace-Greece, Kallidromiou 44, 11473 Athens, Tel. (01) 3640774-5, Fax 3604008) CONTENTS Part I: Trade and use of organophosphorus pesticides (OPs) Part II: Impact of OPs on the environment and health Part III: Alternatives to pesticides use ----------------------------------------------------------------- (File OP1 contains Part I, and file OP2 contains Parts II & III) PART I: TRADE AND USE OF ORGANOPHOSPHORUS PESTICIDES INTRODUCTION The pesticides and related compounds available in the Greek market amount approximately to 1405. Most of them are insecticides (420), fungicides (402), herbicides (326), additives or miscellaneous pesticides (53), growth regulators(45), nematicides (41), acaricides (36), rodenticides (30), trace elements (29), combined action pesticides (15), attractants, repellants, chemosterilants, feeding stimulants (4), and molluscicides (4) (Paloukis and Papadopoulos, 1989). Fifty six of the pesticides available in the Greek market are included in the UN list for substances that have been either banned or restricted in various countries (UN, 1987). Twelve of them are organophosphorus pesticides (OP), and restrictions in formulation or use exist for only 4 of them (Chrysogelos, 1990). A study by Valaoras (1990),based on 1987 data, indicates that approximately 25% of the pesticides used in Greece are in the acute oral toxicity category I under the EPA scheme, considered to be extremely hazardous by oral exposure. Cholinesterase inhibitors account for about 38% of the total by weight. Developmental toxins and carcinogens are 32% and 29% of the total amount respectively. Nearly one half or 46.7% are expected to have the potential to leach into ground water and remain in surface waters. A final category called ecological risk includes the total amount (38%) of pesticides which may pose hazards to wildlife, honeybees or aquatic species. Only a few of the pesticides and related compounds circulating in the Greek market are produced in Greece from imported raw material. None of the active ingredients used are produced in the country. Most of the pesticides are imported in a ready-to-use form, either in small parcels for immediate circulation or in big packages that are subdivided into smaller ones before circulation. These ready-to-use imported products are introduced into the Greek market either by local branch offices of the foreign companies or by Greek companies representing the foreign ones. There are approximately 111 companies that place the above chemicals in the Greek market. More than 1500 shops, stores and representatives circulate pesticides all over the country,and in most of the cases without any serious precautions. SOURCES OF INFORMATION The available figures on imports and use of organophosphorus pesticides are either scarce or fragmentary. In addition, different figures are reported by different sources and thus, obtaining accurate and reliable data is a rather difficult task. Each year, the Greek Ministry of Agriculture publishes statistics on pesticide active ingredients which have permits to be sold in the Greek market. The statistics consist of names, amounts in Kilograms, and value in drachmas for approximately 300 substances. It should be noted that these quantities are the ones for which permits have been given and not those already imported. Furthermore, quantities of pesticides imported in order to be reexported after packaging are not included in the above statistics. In this report,statistics for the years 1987-89 were used. The National Statistical Agency of Greece (NSAG) also publishes statistics on pesticide imports and exports. The values given refer not to the amount of active ingredient but to mixed ingredients or ready-to-use mixtures. Thus, comparison between the two statistics becomes difficult. However, the total amount of pesticides and related compounds imported are of the same order of magnitude as those for which permits were given. Furthermore, if we take into account the percent concentration of the active ingredients in each mixture, figures are once more compatible and of the same order of magnitude. Data for the years 1985-89 were used in this study. There is no official information on the amount of pesticides actually used in the country. A preliminary estimation by the staff of the Ministry of Agriculture reported to the Coordinating Unit for MAP gave some consumption data for 1988 (UNEP,1990). Whether these figures are reliable or not will be discussed later on in this paper. IMPORT / EXPORT FIGURES Using the data mentioned above, the following information can be yielded. The total amounts of pesticides for which permits were given for the years 1987, 1988, and 1989 were 16,045 tn, 15,855 tn, and 26,486 tn respectively. These costed 13.6 billion drachmas (100.5 million US$), 14.9 billion drachmas (107 million US$), and 25.14 billion drachmas (170 million US$) respectively. The amounts in Kg and values in drachmas for various categories of pesticides are listed in tables 1 to 3 for years 1987, 1988, and 1989 respectively. The total amounts and values of pesticides imported andexported during the years 1985-89 are given in Table 4 (see also Fig.1 and Fig.2). Fig.1 : Imports of Pesticides for years 1985-89 (NSAG Data) Fig.2 : Exports of pesticides for years 1985-89 (NSAG Data) ################################################################# # ----------------------------------------------------------------- - Year Imports Exports ----------------------------------------------------------------- - tons Million drs tons Million Drs - ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1985 15,302 7,038 1,600 380 1986 13,710 9,145 2,330 947 1987 12,630 9,071 1,339 421 1988 13,908 11,150 1,504 790 1989 15,855 13,850 1,623 606 ----------------------------------------------------------------- - Table 4: Imports-Exports of pesticides for years 1985-89. The countries where pesticides were imported from are the following: Argentina Hong-Kong * Portugal Australia * Hungary * Romania * Austria India * Spain * Belgium * Indonesia Sweden * Bulgaria Ireland * Switzerland * Canada * Israel * Taiwan China * Italy Turkey * Denmark * Japan * United Kingdom * France * Luxembourg * USA * Germany Morocco Venezuela * Holland * Namibia * Yugoslavia ----------------------------------------------------------------- - An asterisk in front of a country denotes those countries where insecticides were imported from, and thus there is agreater possibility that trade of OPs takes place with these countries. The countries where pesticides were exported to are listed below. The asterisk now denotes those countries where insecticides were exported. Albania Israel * Saudi Arabia * Afganistan * Italy Senegal * Bahrein * Jordan * Spain * Bulgaria * Kenya Sudan * Cyprus Kuwait * Syria * Egypt * Lebanon * Taiwan Ethiopia Malta Thailand * France * Nigeria * Turkey * Germany * Oman * Un.Arab Emirats * Holland * Pakistan * USA India Panama * Yemen * Iran Polland * Iraq * Qatar ----------------------------------------------------------------- - Unfortunately, the NSAG data do not give enough information on the chemical classes of the various pesticides. However, considering that the vast majority of OPs are insecticides, we can make some preliminary estimations. Table 5 gives the amounts of insecticides imported and exported for 1985-89 (see also Fig.3 and Fig.4). ----------------------------------------------------------------- - Year Imports Exports ----------------------------------------------------------------- - tons million drs tons million drs ---- -------------------------------------------------------------- 1985 8,950 4,184 863 280 1986 7,465 5,051 1,963 890 1987 7,596 5,962 963 360 1988 6,749 6,065 1,452 748 1989 6,844 6,420 998 449 ----------------------------------------------------------------- - Table 5: Imports - Exports of insecticides for years 1985-89 Fig.3 :Imports of Insecticides for years 1985-89 (NSAG Data ) Fig.4 :Exports of Insecticides for years 1985-89 (NSAG Data) ################################################################# Taking into account that 65-70% by weight of the insecticides are OPs, we can estimate that the amounts of OPs imported and exported (not as active ingredients though, but as mixtures) during the years 1985-89 were as follows (Table 6 and Fig.5): ----------------------------------------------------------------- Year Imports (tons) Exports (tons) ----------------------------------------------------------------- 1985 6,265 605 1986 5,225 1,375 1987 5,320 675 1988 4,725 1,015 1989 4,790 700 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Table 6: Imports - Exports of OPs for years 1985-89 It should be stressed however, that these figures are only estimations. Particular caution should be given to export figures, as substances that are not used in Greece are imported in order to be reexported (e.g DDT, Drins, etc). Pesticides were broken down by major chemical classes. Thus, for years 1987-89, we had the following figures (Table7 and Fig. 6-8): ----------------------------------------------------------------- Chemical Class 1987 1988 1989 (tons) ----------------------------------------------------------------- Organophosphates 1,813 1,895 2,869 Inorganics 1,783 896 6,629 Thiocarbamates 1,705 1,409 2,354 Carbamates 261 666 882 Triazines 393 356 937 Organochlorines 180 243 298 Ureas 49 34 72 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Table 7: Quantities ( in tons of active ingredient ) of various classes of pesticides for years 1987-89. Table 8 gives a detailed picture of the OPs that circulate in the Greek market. In this table information is also given on the trade names of various pesticides, their formulation, the percent active ingredient included in each trade product, and the amount of the active ingredient in Kg imported in 1987-89. With regard to formulation, the following abreviations were used: EC: Emulsifiable concentrate, WP or PM: Wettable powder (poudre mouillable), GR: Granule, L: Liquid, D: Dust, SCW or SC: Suspension concentrate, FLW: Flowable concentrate, SP: Soluble powder, AS: Aqueous solution. USE FIGURES The following consumption data (in tons of active ingredient) were reported for 1988 to the Coordinating Unit for MAP (UNEP,1990): azinphos-ethyl (80), azinphos-methyl(15), dichlorvos (10), fenitrothion (5), fenthion (130),malathion (50), parathion (30), parathion-methyl (100). A comparison between the figures given by statistics of the Ministry of Agriculture and the above values is attempted in Table 9 (see also Fig.9). ----------------------------------------------------------------- Substance Imports (tons) Estimated use in tn 1987 1988 1989 for 1988 ----------------------------------------------------------------- azin.-ethyl 65.5 60.2 111.5 80 azin.-methyl 17 19.7 15 15 dichlorvos 10.3 13.8 25.6 10 fenitrothion 4.8 2.4 5.3 5 fenthion 87.8 160.4 213.5 130 malathion 35.4 40 45 50 parathion 21.5 66.4 25.3 30 parathion-meth. 207.2 177.4 355.8 100 ----------------------------------------------------------------- Table 9: Imported and estimated quantities of selected OPs. From Table 9 we can see that the estimations for the consumption of azinphos-ethyl, azinphos-methyl, fenitrothion and fenthion are quite reliable. Data from Bayer Hellas S.A for fenthion, give a figure of 144 tons per year (Lentza-Rizos and Avramides, 1990). The figure for the consumption of malathion is probably slightly overestimated, although not unrealistic, and anyway it should not be less than 40 tn/yr. There seems to be an underestimation of the consumption of parathion-methyl and dichlorvos. As for the parathion-methyl,an estimation was made using data from Albanis et al (1986). They give accurate figures for the consumption of parathion-methyl in the Ioannina basin. More specifically, they mention that approximately 350 Kg/yr were used in an 133,000 acres area. Considering that the total cultivated area in Greece is approximately 8,750,000 acres, and assuming that the same amount of parathion-methyl per acre is applied all over the country, we calculate that the total consumption of parathion methyl is 23 tn/yr. This however, is rather a small and unrealistic figure. As there are considerable differences in the amounts of parathion-methyl applied in various parts of the country, the foretold consumption of 100 tn/yr seems to be more realistic. Fig.9 : Import and Use figures for selected OPs. ################################################################# # CONCLUSION Although data on trade and use of organophosphorus pesticides are fragmentary, and in such a form as to make comparison difficult, there seems to be compatability between the various figures. Permits were given for quantities of OPs varying from 1800 tn (as active ingredients) for 1987 to 2870 tn for 1989, while a preliminary estimation for the ready-to-use mixtures containing organophosphates gave a mean value of 5200 tn/yr for the period 1985-89. As the percentage of active ingredients in the mixtures varies from 1-80%, the above figures become compatible. BIBLIOGRAPHY - Albanis T.A, Pomonis P.J, Sdoukos A.Th (1986) Organophosphorus and Carbamates pesticide residues in theaquatic system of Ioannina basin and Kalamas river (Greece),Chemosphere, Vol.15, No 8, pp 1023-1034. - Chrysogelos N (1990) Pesticides: their invasion and domination in Greece, in Pesticides: problems and alternatives, Pesticide Action Network and General Secretariat for Youth, Athens. - Greek Ministry of Agriculture, Statistics of Agricultural Chemicals for years 1987-89. - National Statistical Agency of Greece, Statistics on Imports and Exports of Agricultural Chemicals for years 1985-89. - Paloukis S.S, Papadopoulos C.S (1989) Pesticides and Related Compounds in the Greek Market, 3d ed.,Thessaloniki, Greece. - The Royal Society of Chemistry (1987) The Agrochemicals Handbook, 2nd ed., Nottingham, England. - UNEP (1990) Assessment of the state of pollution in the Mediterranean sea by organophosphorus compounds, and proposed measures, Athens. - UN (1987) Consolidated List of products whose consumption and/or sale have been banned, withdrawn, severely restricted or not approved by governments, second issue, Geneva. - Valaoras G (1990) Preliminary Report on the characteristics of pesticides used in Greece, in Pesticides:problems and alternatives , Pesticide Action Network and General Secretariat for Youth Athens.