The sustainable POPs management Project, implemented by the Ministry of Environment, organized a training workshop to raise and build information capabilities in the area of contaminants the membership is established in the presence of a constellation of experts, scholars and media outlets from various media, read, audio and video.
The workshop was opened by engineer Ahmed Abu al-Saud, head of the environmental Affairs Agency, who stressed the importance of this project in order to rid Egypt of some stockpiles of pesticides and oils. Falling under persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are among the most dangerous contaminants to human health and the environment, and the attention of the Ministry of Environment to the issue of hazardous residues in general, where a range of projects are carried out in this context, and the Egyptian national plan is being updated to persistent organic pollutants the project had already begun the operational steps for the safe disposal of the cargo of the lindane stored in the port of literary In Suez, where one of the international companies specializing in this field will transport this shipment out of Egypt to burn in private ovens in France, where this shipment by the Public Prosecutor's Office of Suez, and Ahmed Abu Saud stressed that the project follows the delicate technical, scientific and legal procedures in various Its steps for the safe disposal of these persistent organic pollutants.
It should be noted that the Ministry of the Environment had announced a global tender for the safe disposal of this consignment of unidentified lindane, which had reached the port of literary in Suez. 18 years ago, the prosecution received it and the exporter was not identified, and a Greek firm, an expert in this field, won the auction and is in the process of Take practical steps to move them out of the country, following various procedures that ensure compliance with the provisions of the Basel Convention on the Transport of hazardous wastes, including for example (notifying the country that the shipment will pass until its arrival in France) and at the opening of the workshop, engineer Ahmed Abdel Hamid, the project manager, stressed the importance The project's highest awareness of the issue of persistent organic pollutants and the vital role that information plays in this framework and the project's concern direct and continuous communication with the media to publicize various aspects of the subject, and Ahmed Abdel Hamid provided a streamlined presentation on the objectives of the project, which summarizes In the safe disposal of 1,000 tons of banned and expired pesticides stored in some locations, some 220 tons in the port of literary in Suez about 230 tons in the Giza row area and 250 tons spread over nine other regions, the project also aims to collect and process 1,000 tons of contaminated oils With polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), a persistent organic pollutant that was used in Transformers and the project works to transfer the localization of remediation technologies and noted that one of the main objectives of the project was to build and strengthen national capacities and capabilities to deal with contaminants The established membership in scientifically sound ways, which serves the environment and health in Egypt and fulfils Egypt's obligations in the application of the conventions in this area, such as the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants and the Basel Convention on the Transport and management of hazardous wastes.
 
The workshop started with a public lecture on POPs presented by Prof. Dr. Saad Hassan Al-Prof, Faculty of Science, Ein Shams University, where he began to demonstration of the historical stages of pesticide use with the agricultural revolution in the 1950s and attention to the risk of wasteful use of pesticides with the publication of the Book of Rachel Careson, the Silent Spring of 1962, in which the bells of danger and alarm were sounded, the degradation of the environment, biodiversity and the health risks man and animal as a result of the indiscriminate and irrational use of pesticides, then Dr. Saad Hasan presented the issue of POPs which includes a set of the most dangerous Chemicals that remain in the environment for years and decades and do not decompose and move from one place to another and are stored in the fatty cells of living organisms and display Dr. Saad Hasan lists these substances that fall under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, including some pesticides called a dirty dozen like Dr. D. T.-Aldrin – Cloran-endrin – Heptachlor-Toxanin – etc. The presentation of other groups added the Stockholm Convention, including the lindane, and generally referred to the serious health effects on human health caused by direct and indirect exposure to these contaminants, which affect the body's organs.
Then Dr. Salah Suleiman, professor of toxicology of pesticides at Alexandria University, added another dimension to the pesticide issue, which is how to balance the world's need for pesticides. To resist some pests and reduce their light and the quantities used so that they do not affect health and the environment, stressing that the whole issue is about To the rational use of pesticides and the obligation to safeguard measures for each pesticide and the conditions of use, which is the result of such serious impacts on health and the environment, an open debate has taken place on the issue and the use of some terms that are not precise Scientific like pesticides or radioactive lindane to other terms using the media and here Dr Salah confirmed that he does not there are radioactive pesticides and the characteristics of pesticides vary from one pesticide to another and the word carcinogenic is inaccurate because it is about how to use it.
The workshop was also attended by experts from the Ministry of Agriculture Dr. Mamdouh al-Sharif, director of the Central Laboratory of Pesticides and Dr. Yasser Wahid Abdel Fattah, head of the Research department pesticides and Dr. Nabil Saber Abdel Hai, head of the control Department of the Central Pesticide Laboratory, Dr. Mamdouh al-Sharif confirmed close cooperation with Ministry of the environment through this project to secure the safe disposal of those dangerous quantities stored long ago and spoke of the importance of the oversight role played by the Central Laboratory on pesticides, their quantity and quality and the requirements used, and the importance of the project for Egypt to dispose definitively of pesticides that fall under the list Persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and other groups of stagnant pesticide stockpiles, he said that the Ministry of the Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture had a significant burden to dispose of this is a very expensive process and there are now legal amendments that pesticide importers have a role in defrusing the cost of disposing of any The pesticide control system in Egypt is one of the most stringent systems at the regional and international level, he stressed.
Dr. Yasser Wahid spoke of the efforts made in partnership between the project and the Ministry of Agriculture in the safe disposal of the lindane shipment and the willingness to also dispose of the quantities located in the row store in Giza from banned and stagnant pesticides, and confirmed that the two ministries will cooperate in the preparation of databases and information Accurate on the different quantities of pesticides stored, whether persistent organic pollutants or other banned and stagnant pesticides, and stressed that information he must collect his information from accurate sources and make sure that the various data he obtains are up to date and this is indeed what the media are asking for, especially with multiple Different data and information are available in several quarters.
The workshop also saw important occasional presentations on international conventions, in which Dr. Manal Sami Farag was responsible for the Stockholm Convention national Focal Point for persistent organic pollutants a presentation on the Convention, its clauses and implementation mechanisms and the commitment of Egypt, as presented by engineer Ghada Abdel-Moneim Basel Convention For the transport and management of hazardous waste, and the attendees have called for the need to replicate and sustain this training, and some have suggested the production of a guide to the definition of environmental terminology the precise scientific process for POPs the project was launched at the end of the workshop with its website to provide adequate information for each Interested and specialists in the topic and news of the project first that's the project manager, engineer Ahmed Abdel Hamid, promised at the end of the workshop is constantly communicating with the media and implementing an integrated training and capacity building plan, and this workshop comes in this framework.