Nairobi — On May 23 this year, 114 countries gathered in Stockholm to sign an agreement banning the use of dangerous chemicals otherwise known as Persistent Organic Pollutants POPs. There are scores of POPs in daily use across the world but the new treaty targeted only 12 branded as the "Dirty Dozen". They are aldrin, dieldrin, chlordane, DDT, endrin, heptachlor, hexachlorobenzene, mirex, dioxins, furans and PCPs.

Though produced to benefit humans - by eliminating disease and pests, improving crop yields and creating things we use daily as plastics - these toxics are now entering water, food chain systems and even endangering the human genetic code, warns UNEP which hosted the Stockholm summit together with the Swedish Minister of Environment Kjell Larsson.

It is estimated that there are 25 million cases of pesticide poisoning each year, largely in the developing countries, according to the US-based Global Environment Facility, GEF. Huge stockpiles of harmful pesticides estimated to be over 500,000 tonnes exist in Africa, Asia, South America and former Eastern Bloc countries.

The campaign to eliminate organic pollutants has been intertwined with the subject of the dumping of toxic wastes by the industrialized West. Termed "waste colonialism" the menace of dumping of European waste gained global attention in the 1980s with Nigeria and Guinea scandals prompting the Greenpeace's acidic commentary:

"The continent of Africa fell victim to some of the most infamous transshipments of toxic wastes with schemes offering parcels of poison sweetened with much needed foreign cash".

Inevitably the African endorsement of the Stockholm Convention has been seen as reinforcing the continent's role in shaping a global agenda to protect her interests and resolve of her policy-makers to shake off the legacy of the "landfill" of the West.

Since 1980s African voices - led by Nigerian and Ivory Coast governments - have been distinct in the hazardous chemicals ban negotiations which crystallized in the Basel Convention of 1989, and, subsequently the Bamako Convention adopted in 1991 which entered into legal force in April 1998.

And now Stockholm Convention - considered historical - for not only strengthening the previous undertakings but for the first time outlawing the use of "Dozen Twelve".

"We see Stockholm Convention as a further expression of our commitment to tackle the menace of POPs in particular and problems of hazardous waste to our environment as a whole," noted Alhaji Muhammed Kabir Said, the Nigerian Minister of Environment obviously proud Nigeria has shed off the taint of the past rubbish-trade scandals.

"The singular experience of toxic waste dump on Nigerian shores by an Italian ship in 1988 actually opened our eyes to dangerous trend in toxic waste trade by merchants of death".

The waste dumping scandal catalysed Nigeria's ecological awareness and the country enacted laws, a death penalty indeed, to prevent such recurrence.

Moreover, it established a Federal Environmental Protection Agency, "to ensure effective surveillance of the Nigerian environment and adequate policies," noted Said, stressing that his country had taken stock of the episode and is prepared to use those lessons for tackling Stockholm Convention now seeking ratification.

Speaking to APS after the signing ceremony in Stockholm, Said stressed the policy commitments of Nigeria to eliminate POPs as an individual state but also on a regional namely ECOWAS as well as pan-African platform.

He is the present chair of African Environment Ministers' Council and promises to lend POP agenda full African engagement and backing. "The Stockholm Convention's objectives is close to our hearts because it means we are in the league of nations which will protect its citizenry from undue exposure to life threatening chemicals".

In practical terms, the Minister said, Nigerians could in the near future live with, "lessened risk to cancer, brain damage and repressed immune systems," he explained.

Though Nigeria's environmental profile is often perceived and fueled by the turbulent oil and human rights' controversies, the bulk of chemical contamination is greatest upon the urban areas, agricultural and food producing regions, he clarified.

This attests to the uniqueness of pollutants for Africa's most populous nation with the problems of feeding itself. Said could not specify the time frame for eliminating the pesticides such as DDT used for malaria prevention.

Most of the POPs as DDT are manufactured in the West. And because of the patent laws and financial muscle of the pharmaceutical companies the search for alternatives from the Third World countries continues to be frustrated.

The challenges of enforcing POPs ban, therefore, reflect the North-South disparities - the underlying technological and intellectual conflicts and segregation of African innovations by the West.

Conceding that the West's bias constituted a barrier, the Nigerian Minister promises an increased pan-African mobilisation in order to realise the substitution of DDT, for example, with products indigenous African scientists and biotechnology can deliver given the continent's biodiversity and tradition of herbal therapies.

This view was shared by the Kenyan delegation during the Stockholm Convention. Francis Nyenze, the Minister of Environment, sees the phasing out of DDT for example as a potential opening for Kenya's agricultural sector to produce more pyrethrum.

"We hope this will signal the shift from synthetic pesticides used to kill mosquito to organic substances made from pyrethrum flower. If this ban were implemented then Kenyan farmers would be the happiest. We have the potential to be the world's largest producer of safe pesticides".

After all, Nyenze added, malaria is one of the main killer diseases in sub- Saharan Africa and millions was being spent on shopping cures and preventions abroad.

Mozambican deputy Minister for Environment stated the difficulties of enforcing the POPs ban. "We cannot get rid of the DDT and other substances overnight. It will take years. We also need to educate the people, raise awareness and build capacity," said Francis Mabjala.

According to Greenpeace, Mozambique has altogether 443 tonnes of obsolete pesticides stored in 40 different locations. The onset of massive floods last year has meant that Mozambique has to deal with a much more complicated disposal exercise.

With the aids of German and Danish expertise the Plant Protection Service of Mozambique undertook a disposal operation that removed 160 tonnes of DDT and contaminated soil six years ago.

*The writer, Moussa Awuonda, is based in Stockholm and focuses on development issues, health and the environment.