Mexican experience in local, regional and global actions for lindane elimination

Lindane has been historically used as a broad spectrum pesticide in agricultural, livestock, forestry, veterinary and human health applications. Several factors have contributed to concern over the production and use of lindane including its properties of persistence, toxicity, bioaccumulation and potential for long-range transport. Mexico has been involved in activities to control the use of lindane for about a decade, most of them derived from the agreement to develop a North American Regional Action Plan with Canada and the United States of America under the framework of the trilateral Commission for Environmental Cooperation. As a first effort, in 2003, Mexico developed a national diagnosis to assess the lindane status in the country, which was the initiative that encouraged stakeholder active participation and constituted one of the main information sources to establish national actions. Since then, Mexico has participated in several efforts for lindane control, even making important contributions to global actions for lindane elimination such as the nomination for its inclusion in Annex A of the Stockholm Convention, as well as the development of a methodology for effective participation in the POP (Persistent Organic Pollutants) Review Committee. Mexico's actions at national, regional and global level are worth to be shared as they represent a successful example, in which an effective participation and coordination of stakeholders allowed the country to define a national strategy and to propose a global initiative to eliminate lindane.