Pesticides problem discussed [Archives:2002/47/Local News]

BY YASER AL-MAYASI
YEMEN TIMES STAFF
Officials at the Ministry of Agriculture told Yemen Times on Tuesday that during this month, Yemen will be destroying around 220 tons of soil polluted by toxic waste. Samples of the polluted soil will be sent to special laboratories in Netherlands for inspection.
According to the ministry, those wastes were buried in Wadi Sardod of Hodeidah in 1983 by an American company. In 1992 the ministry in cooperation with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) discovered 30 tons of highly toxic waste in one of Sardood farms. The statistics revealed that the polluted area is around 200 square meters in area and 2 meters in thickness. The ministry believes that there is about 1000 cubic meters of polluted soil of which 300 cubic meters are highly polluted.The Ministry of Agriculture said that it holds the American company that buried the waste without informing the Yemeni government accountable for the damage it had caused to the soil. However, Yemen could not file a lawsuit against the company because it was not found on the list of all American agricultural companies currently operational.

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