According to the MEP, the last Chinese Dicofol producer Jiangsu Yangnong shut down their production facility on May 17. The cessation of production is another step in China’s implementation of the Stockholm Convention. The agrochemical industry has greeted the news with apprehension. Industry fears that additional highly-toxic (HPT) will be phased-out in the future and is surely not reassured by the pending Jul 1st deadline on paraquat production.
As a cost-effective solution to acaridae, (a mite which attacks cotton, fruit and flowering plants), Dicofol was once very popular among the growers. However Dicofol is a POP releasing substance. DDT is involved in the production of Dicofol which as a result often contains residues which pose risk to human health and the environment. In April 2007, China approved a national plan to implement the Stockholm Convention nationwide and promised to reduce and phase out Dicofol.
As China gradually fulfills its toxic pollutants and chemicals reduction plan, more pesticides will be eliminated in China. The most pressing issue nowadays is paraquat, which was restricted under Announcement 1745 in 2012, requiring that all pesticide registration and manufacturing approval on paraquat AS be terminated as of Jul 1 2014. Only paraquat technical producers can maintain registration for export only purpose and all sales and uses of paraquat AS in China should be terminated from July 1 2016. However paraquat performs well in international markets. In 2013, paraquat displaced imidacloprid as China’s second most exported active ingredient. It was speculated that the government would suspend the restriction on paraquat AS because the herbicide is currently very profitable. However with the latest Dicofol news, alarm bells should be sounding for the Chinese pesticide industry.
