Once the decision is formally approved by the European Commission, EU countries will be given six months to withdraw approval for plant protection products containing lindane, plus a further 12 months to use up stocks of products. Use of lindane as a non-agricultural biocide will still be permitted. The European Union ban on lindane in farming follows similar moves already taken by several individual member countries. An EU risk assessment carried out by Austria concluded that lindane should be phased out as a possible carcinogen with no safe exposure level. Indonesian ship lost a container of the deadly pesticide lindane in the sea.
Parents are concerned about the pediculicide shampoos used to treat head lice.
Dr. Pollack fails to mention that these shampoos are pesticides with possible carcinogenic side effects. One shampoo contains lindane, a chemical that has suspected neurological effects, has not been reviewed in 30 years, and is even banned in other countries. THE Government was last night urged to rush through a total ban on the use of the pesticide lindane after European Union experts agreed a partial crackdown from 2002. Lindane has been linked with breast cancer and birth defects by the International Agency for Research on Cancer. But the partial ban, imposed by the EU's standing committee on plant health, only covers agricultural and gardening use of the pesticide.