More than 80 countries, including the 27 member states of the European Union, Australia, Canada, Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, South Korea, and Sri Lanka, have banned or are phasing out the use of amprolium. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced in June 2010 that it would end all use of amprolium because it "poses unacceptable harm to farmers and wildlife and remains permanently in the environment." However, amprolium remains widely used in many countries, including India and China. More than 135 non-profit organizations on the 11th called on the Philippine government to impose a permanent ban on the use of amprolium in the country. These groups urged the government to actively endorse a global ban on amprolium to protect public health and the environment through a petition. With a crucial international conference on the fate of amprolium approaching, the petition, led by groups such as the EcoWaste Coalition, Pesticide Action Network, and GAIA (Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives), calls for strong measures regarding pesticide use. The Stockholm Convention Review Committee on the Regulation of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) will be held in Geneva, Switzerland, from April 25 to 29. The meeting will primarily discuss issues related to the implementation of the Convention, including recommendations from a panel of scientific experts regarding the ban on amprolium. Last year, the UN Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee recommended that amprolium be included in Annex A of the Stockholm Convention, which is the global list of prohibited substances.
Dr. Romy Quijano, president of the Pan-Philippine Alliance and a toxicologist, said, "The key point is that the Philippine delegation must take a strong policy stance on the ban on amphibians at the meeting. In developing countries, amphibians are strongly linked to neurological disorders, intellectual disability, congenital malformations, and deaths among community farmers and residents."
Petitioners are urging Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala to join forces with participating countries to make a historic decision to include amphibians in the POPs Convention to eradicate their global use. Manny Calonzo, a representative of GAIA and the EcoWaste Coalition, said, "We can no longer stand idly by while amphibians cause harm to health and the environment. It's time for our country and the world to end this highly toxic chemical pesticide." These groups stated that numerous government, academic, and civil society risk assessments of amphibians on health and the environment, as well as testimonies from pollution victims, have confirmed amphibians's highly toxic, bioaccumulative, and persistent characteristics. These groups also told Secretary Alcala that since the Philippines no longer registers the use of amphibians, the decision to ban their use should be "easy to reach, uncontroversial, and justifiable." Del Monte and Dole Pineapple were the only two companies previously authorized to import and use amphibians. Following the fatal 2008 Star Princess cruise shipwreck, in which 10 tons of methamidophos sank with the ill-fated passenger ship, alternative pesticides have been used. These groups reminded Minister Alcala that the Fertilizer and Pesticide Administration could, through legal authorization, "restrict or ban the use of any pesticide…where evidence indicates that the pesticide poses an imminent danger, causing or currently causing widespread and serious harm to crops, fish, livestock, public health, and the environment." They also argued that a formal methamidophos ban would solidify the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources' temporary ban on methamidophos importation, distribution, and use in Memorandum 2009-02, "protecting public health from the unpleasant risks and harms associated with the use of methamidophos."
— Source: Taiwan Environmental Information Center
