Group urges gov’t to ban mothballs

MANILA, Philippines - The government should remove naphthalene mothballs from the market after Bulgaria banned the product, an environment watchdog said yesterday.

“The withdrawal in Bulgaria of mothballs imported from the Philippines should be a wakeup call for makers and users of naphthalene-based pest control products,” Thony Dizon, coordinator of the EcoWaste Coalition’s Project Protect, said.

The European Union, which includes Bulgaria, has banned naphthalene mothballs as a moth repellent product since 2008.

“As a precaution against health-damaging exposure, we urge authorities to impose a ban on the use of naphthalene and other hazardous substances such as paradichlorobenzene for pest control,” EcoWaste said.

Dizon said while “formal” stores sell the mothballs in packs that indicate naphthalene may cause hemolytic crisis or “the rapid destruction of large numbers of red blood cells causing acute anemia,” those sold by street vendors are packed in clear plastic bags with no product labels or health warnings.

Dizon cited the United Kingdom’s Health Protection Agency, which warned that naphthalene is “toxic by all routes of exposure, whether it is ingested, inhaled or comes into contact with skin and eyes.”

The International Agency for Research on Cancer has classified naphthalene as a possible human carcinogen.