list of banned chemicals in Mongolia

Toxics issues in Mongolia

Dolgormaa L.

WWF Mongolia Programme Office

E-mail: mpo-toxics@wwf.mn

INTRODUCTION

Mongolia is rich in raw materials of agricultural origin such as wool, leather, and

cashmere. Until 1989, chemicals and most manufactured products were imported from

the former Soviet Union (USSR) on a barter basis and the economy was centrally

planned. The Government used to import chemicals and be in charge of distribution as

well as of controlling use of chemicals. After 1990, when Mongolia shifted to democratic

free market economy, many industries and organizations have been privatized.

In the transition period, centralized control and coordination of toxic substances have

become irregular and have been insufficient. Different kinds of chemical substances have

been imported both by organizations and economic entities and individuals. There has

been no any legislative basis for exercising control. Therefore, the Government of

Mongolia developed and approved the Law on Protection from Toxic Chemicals in 1995.

Also, the Ministry of Nature and the Environment updated a list of restricted or banned

chemicals in Mongolia, including POPs, in 1997. (Table 1.)

Table 1. List of toxic chemicals banned or severely restricted in Mongolia

Banned Chemicals

1. Aldrin 10.Nitrofen

2. Dieldrin 11.Captafol

3. DDT 12.Toxapene

4. Dinoseb 13.Endrin

5. Fluoroacetamide 14.Phenol,pentachloro-

6. HCH (mixed isomers) 15.Ethylenedibromide

7. Chlordane 16.Heptachlor

8. Chlordimeform 17.Oxirane

9. Cyhexatin

Severely Restricted Chemicals

1.Zinc phosphide 8.Mercury (Hg)

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2.Lindane 9.Mercury oxide (HgO)

3.Ugilec 121 10.Mercury chloride (Hg2CL2)

4.Cyanide 11.Mercury dichloride(HgCl2)

5.Benzidine 12.Aminobiphenyl

6.Maleic hydrazide 3,6-

Pyridazinedione,1,2-dihydro-

13.Propanoic acid, 2,2-

dichloro-

7.Ethane,1,2-dichloro-

In Mongolia, there is no complete and reliable statistics on chemicals and chemical

management so far. Until 1980, organochlorine pesticides like DDT were used in

Mongolia. Unfortunately, no monitoring has been done in the last years. DDT was banned

since 1995, therefore it should not be available on the market. However, it has been still

used in rural areas, and it may be available on the black market. Some primary

insecticides have also been used as insecticides. A number of chemicals have appeared at

the open-air markets without proper labels packed in small packages apparently from

larger, bulkier consignments. This has resulted in misuse or inappropriate application of

pesticides and other chemical formulations.

The use of chemical substances on a large scale in Mongolia was maintained in five main

sectors: agriculture, manufacturing industries, livestock management, disease control,

education and scientific research. The import of pesticides and fertilizers was controlled

by the Ministry of Food and Agriculture; other toxic chemicals are under control of the

Ministry of Nature and Environment.

According to the law (Protection from Toxic Chemicals 1995) it was pointed out that

non-personnel inter-sectoral Council for coordinating utilization of toxic chemicals

should be established. By this law, chair of the Council should be the Minister of Nature

and Environment, and the Council should be comprised of experts from related Ministries

and Departments. Accordingly, the Council has been established and the State

Specialized Inspection Agency under the Prime Minister supervision exercises control on

protection from and use of toxic chemicals.

INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION AND LEGAL ASPECTS

Mongolia has signed the Stockholm Convention. Currently Ministry of Nature and

Environment had started activities on ratification of the Convention.

The Ministry of Nature and Environment is implementing GEF/UNIDO project

“Enabling Activity to Facilitate Early Action on the Implementation of POPs” which

started in June 2003 in Mongolia (USD362,000 for 2 years). Main objective of the project

is development of Action Programme on the Implementation of POPs. Except for this

project, any financial and technical support was not receive from international

organizations and developed countries on toxics issues, before.

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In view of the above mentioned situation in the country with regard to Toxics, it is vital to

develop and implement Toxics programme of the WWF Mongolia within the framework

of the protected areas, specifically in Altai-Sayan and Daguur Ecoregions.

National Legislation Related to Chemicals Issues

1. Current laws and regulations being followed for toxics issues in Mongolia:

• Mongolian Law on Environmental Protection

• Mongolian Law on Protection from Toxic Chemicals

• Mongolian Law on Environmental Impact Assessment

• The Law on Prohibition of Import and Transportation of Hazardous Waste

• Waste Reduction Programme

• Rules of the National Council for Chemical Safety in Mongolia

• Guidelines on Issuing permission to produce, export, import, trade with and use

toxic chemicals

• National Classification of Toxic Chemicals

• Guidelines for Storage, Transportation and Disposal of Toxic Chemicals in

Mongolia

• Procedure for Registration and Examination of Pesticides in Mongolia

2. Status of Mongolian’s Adherence to the International Conventions:

• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants

• Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent Procedure for Certain

Hazardous Chemicals and Pesticides in International Trade

• Basel Convention on the Control of Transboundary Movement of Hazardous

Waste and their Disposal

TOXICS THREATS TO THE ENVIRONMENT

1. Industrial chemicals. Most of the existing industries in Mongolia are old and use

outdated technology. Small and medium-size enterprises producing washing powder,

soaps, phosphoric fertilizer and other chemical substances have appeared and more

enterprises are likely to spring out. Particularly, the number of new industries where

chromium is widely used has been growing in the countryside.

In Mongolia, electric capacitors and transformers are widely used. Polychlorinated biphenyls

(PCBs) contaminated equipment was recognized as a major existing hazardous

waste. Until now, no any monitoring on PCBs containing equipment has been conducted

in the country.

The mineral deposits are potential sources of wealth. The techniques used to extract them

and the waste materials that these techniques produce (often in enormous quantities and

with high toxicity level) bring significant risks to the environment. Two of such deposits

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are Boroo and Olon-Oboot gold hard rock deposits. Preparation to start for extraction is

planned in 2003, and technology with sodium cyanide and other toxic substances will be

used. In the future, more hard rock gold mines are likely to be exploited. Example of

contamination of surroundings by mines is a gold mine in Selenge aimag where mercury

was used 30 years ago. Mercury still remains there and contaminates the surroundings.

Another example is river Boroo, contaminated with mercury. Ministry of Nature and

Environment has recently implemented some projects on cleaning up and discharging

mercury from the river. As a result, 25 kg of mercury have been discharged from 400 m3

of water in about 4 hectares of land. According to the law, Environmental Impact

Assessment should be conducted prior to mining activities; however, this law is rarely

enforced.

With respect to coal mining operations, the main environmental issues are air quality,

reclamation and mine closure. Air contamination is caused by carbon monoxide from coal

fires, coal dust from the operations and rock overburden piles. Carbon monoxide effect is

particularly strong around the working area of the mines and can have an effect over a

large area.

As of fluorite mining operations, the main environmental issues are groundwater and

mineralized areas containing fluorite, that are harmful for health concentrations when

used for drinking water.

In copper molybdenum mining operations, large quantities of acid and other chemicals

are used. Monitoring of dust and water from the tailings impoundment is necessary in

order to determine the scope of the problem.

2. Pesticide use. In Mongolia, not many chemicals are used for rodent control. The zinc

phosphate was used widely since 1960 to 1987 and was banned but now still used

illegally. From 2001, Bromadiolone has been used against rodents. In 2002, a total of 850

million tugrug was allocated from the central budget to control field voles over 410,000

hectares of pastureland. During the first half of the year, 85 percent of the planned work

to control field voles was carried out over 348.5 thousand hectare areas of 31 soums of 7

aimags. Bromadiolone proved itself as a deadly rodenticide: besides Brandt’s vole

(Microtus Brandtii), it killed over non - targeted birds and mammals, several livestock.

(TseveenmyadagN., and Nyambayar.B., 2002). The poisoning (0.5% bromdialone treated

grain (which is prohibited for outdoor use elsewhere) the major proportion of the

population physically died. The incident brought publicity to rodenticide usage and

control issues in Mongolia at the international and local level. One of the alternative

methods other than poisoning Brandt’s vole is increase the number of predators: Saker

Falcon, Upland Buzzards, Steppe Eagle, Fox etc. (Potapov E., et.al. 2003).

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Table 1. The poisoned animals in bromadiolone from May to June 2002

(Tseveenmyadag N., and Nyambayar.B., 2002)

Poisoned animals Total

numbers

Birds:

Demoiselle Crane (Anthropodidesv virgo) 149

Herring Gull (Larus argentatus) 152

Ruddy Shelduck (Tadorna ferruginea) 3

Whooper Swan (Cygnus cygnus) 3

Black Kite (Milvus migranus) 2

Upland Buzzard (Buteo hemilasius) 2

Saker Falkon (Falco cherrug) 2

Daurian Jackdaw (Corvus dauricus) 20

Total of birds 333

Mammals:

Corsac Fox (Vulpes corsac) 2

Manul or Pallas’Cat (Felis manul) 2

Domestic sheep 3

Total of mammals 7

Grasshopper, dragonfly and meadow butterfly are widely spread on grazing and arable

areas of Mongolia and big populations of Orthoptera grasshoppers are recorded in

Western Mongolia. There are 56 subspecies of 35 species of 4 genera of grasshoppers and

12 species of dragonfly in Mongolian Altai alpine pastures. The area damaged only by

Ortoptera grasshopper reaches 422.94 thousand hectares on the territory of 16 soums.

In addition, Siberian moth (Dendiolimus superans) and Jacobson’s caterpillar (Erannis

Jacobsoni) etc. invasion takes place every year causing massive damage to forest

resources. As of 2000, pests spread over 1.2 million ha. of forestland.

Use of obsolete pesticides is one of the problems in the country. Pesticides that are no

longer useful for the purpose they were intended for, empty contaminated pesticide

containers, contaminated soils and buried pesticides comprise the toxic waste. The

information gathered during surveys shows that over 88,417 kg of obsolete chemicals

exist in the country. No information is available on cleaning up or disposal of these empty

containers. There are cases when pesticide containers are used for domestic purposes.

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