Climate ministry devises plan to eliminate POPs stockpile of POPs

ISLAMABAD, Oct 29 (APP):Ministry of Climate Change (MoCC) has devised a proper plan with cogent strategy to eliminate stockpiles of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) accumulated in the country.

A senior official of the ministry Tuesday told APP that in a recent meeting of the POPs review committee, held in Rome on the status of progress made by different countries in removing POPs from their environment was evaluated.

“Pakistan luckily is only importing products containing POPs and no indigenous production involving such elements is being carried out in the country. We are heading in the right direction as we have identified the areas with specific ratio of POPs accumulated,” he added.

To a question, he said polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) was one of the POPs found commonly in our system as it was mainly found in electric transformers. “The latest transformers have no PCB whereas in Pakistan 1960’s transformers are still working in the country.”

He went on to mention that the people in rural and far-off areas were using transformer oil to relieve joint pains where it was highly injurious to human health due to its carcinogenic nature.

There was no awareness among the masses to curb the use of transformer oil, he added.
Responding another question, he said we had the data of power distribution companies (discos) and national transmission and dispatch company (NTDC) having PCB transformers which would be phased out after coordination with the said departments.