China has reduced its annual DDT production and use by 2,800 tons, cutting emissions of the chemical insecticide by 170 tons every year, according to the Ministry of Environmental Protection.
DDT was among the first group of pollutants listed for restricted use by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) due to its environmental harms.
The chemical compound was banned for agricultural use in China in 1983 and has since only been used as a raw material for producing dicofol, a mite-killing agent that is chemically related to DDT.
However, DDT waste remained serious for a while due to unenlightened production technology, according to Zhao Weijun, a senior official with the Foreign Economic Cooperation Office under the ministry.
Zhao said the reduction was thanks to a joint project launched in 2009 between the Chinese government and the United Nations Development Programme to develop alternative plans to kill mites and train rural residents to adopt farming technology.
The project has effectively phased out the use of dicofol in the country and also helped dispose of 1,600 tons of high-density DDT waste, Zhao said.
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