The New Zealand Soil and Health Association is celebrating the global phase out of the toxic pesticide Endosulfan.

Soil and Health spokesperson Steffan Browning says the world is a safer place after Endosulfan was added to the Stockholm Convention’s international list of banned substances last week.

“It is very much like DDT in fact you could say it is like a poor cousin of DDT.

So you find it everywhere in the Antarctic and in the Arctic and in the rainforests – it’s just everywhere.

“It’s a neurotoxic carcinogen so there are a lot of reasons it should be banned internationally, it’s just a shame it’s taken quite so long.”

In 2005 a West Auckland farmer accidentally fed Endosulfan to 10 of his cattle which were subsequently exported. This resulted in a complete trade ban being imposed on New Zealand’s beef exports by South Korea.

That ban cost the New Zealand economy more than a billion dollars.

In 2008 ERMA banned Endosulfan in New Zealand.

Steffan Browning said it was cases like this, which had clear economic impacts on New Zealand’s economy, that forced ERMA to follow other countries’ lead and ban the chemical.

“ERMA will say it’s because of the health issues but seriously their first recommendation was not to remove it.

“I tend to see ERMA operating on an economic risk management basis not an environmental one but no matter we are very very pleased that they did remove it ultimately and they did very very quickly when they chose to.”