Public warned vs chlordane

If your carpenter tells you the wooden structures in your home are being protected using Chlordane, an expensive anti-termite chemical, you have good cause for alarm. Chlordane has long been banned in the country.

According to Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) Executive Director Jose Maria Perez, the sale and use of Chlordane have been prohibited since 1999. In the past decades, Chlordane was heavily used as an anti-termite chemical treatment by homeowners, construction folk and fishermen until industry experts realized that the chemical was actually a double-edged solution. Since Chlordane has a residual effect that lasts for fifty years or so, homes were protected from termites for a very long time. But this also meant that toxic elements stayed very long in the soil and caused a number of health and environmental problems.

The chemical had become famously effective against pests, which led to its misuse – carpenters would mix paint with Chlordane, splathering the mixture on wood to keep termites from gnawing through the structures. But what homeowners and construction people did not know was that the chemical is carcinogenic or could cause cancer. Didi Gonzales of the Pest Control Association of the Philippines (PCAP) narrates that in the US, an entire family was evacuated from their homes when it was found that their house had been treated with Chlordane. Not until all affected structures were taken out and replaced were they allowed to move back in.

Chlordane was also proven to be hazardous to the ecosystem. The chemical is non-selective, meaning it kills everything in its path, including beneficial insects like earthworms and centipedes. Bailey Yu of the Pest Control Products Distributors Association on the Philippines (PCPDAP) paints a grim scenario; Chlordane is sprayed onto the soil and when it rains, the chemical mixes with rainwater, flows into river systems, and whatever it comes into contact with could die, including fishes. Fishermen who use Chlordane as wood preservative for their boats would paint Chlordane on the bottom of the hull to protect it from barnacles, not knowing that the chemical could affect marine life.

But since Chlordane was banned by the FPA, the chemical is no longer available in the market. According to Administrator Perez, people who insist on buying Chlordane are being sold fake chemicals since Chlordane has long been taken off the shelves. He states that the industry has been very strict with the entry of pesticides so you can be sure that no Chlordane enters our premises, even through the "backdoor" where goods are said to be smuggled into the country. What fly-by-night pesticide sellers do is replace the label of a different chemical and sell it as Chlordane. Gonzales explains, "Consumers who buy what they think is Chlordane are being duped. They are not getting their money’s worth and are being lulled into a false sense of security because their homes are not really being protected against termites."

Pesticides and fertilizers banned in first world countries have no place in the Philippines, Perez insists. "We even receive complaints from multinational companies abroad to the effect that our registration process is very strict. The FPA follows the guidelines of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations World Health Organization. If the chemical does not meet the standards, it cannot be brought in the country."