SOIL POLLUTION WITH POPS PESTICIDES IN THE REPUBLIC OF BULGARIA

摘要

The group of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) that are subject to the Stockholm Convention includes the following pesticides: aldrin, dieldrin, endrin, mirex, toxaphene, hexachlorbenzene, heptachlor, chlordane and DDT. POPs pesticides have never been manufactured in the Republic of Bulgaria. Most of these have been imported and used in Bulgaria mainly as plant protection chemicals (PPC). The use of POP pesticides in Bulgaria has been largest in the 60's. They had been used on more than 20 million da of agricultural land, forests, etc., during this period. The negative effects for the environment and for humans evidenced throughout the world, and the prohibitive and restrictive measures have reduced and discontinued the use of POP pesticides in Bulgaria. In spite of that, because of their persistent and toxicity in 1997, the Executive Environmental Protection Agency (EEPA) at the Ministry of Environment and Water (MOEW) initiated a systematic study of soil for residues of POP pesticides. The soil monitoring included 4 years of systematic gathering by the MOEW of 277 soil samples, of which 124 were collected in the year 2000. In 1997, the soil sampling points had been located in points of expected pollution. The point selection methodology was changed during the period 1998-2000, and the soil samples were equally distributed along the country's agricultural land. Analyses have been made for content of DDT, heptachlor, endrin, eldrin, dieldrin and hexachlorbenzene. The sample analysis shows that despite the ban on DDT use since 1969, residual DDT and metabolite quantities have been registered for the period 1997-1998. This is caused by the slack monitoring of storage of prohibited and obsolete pesticides, non-compliance with the ban on DDT use and lack of land-use culture.