At the end of the 50, they were begun to use like pesticidas organoclorados products. One of the most used was el.lindano. Chemically he is one of five isomers of the hexaclorociclohexano (HCH), concretely the gamma isomer.

El.lindano has been used in agriculture, veterinary medicine, and even in the scope of the human health because it is an insecticide of ample phantom (it also serves to kill to fitófagos insects like for the parasites of the animals). Nowadays its toxicity has been verified, and is being prohibited in several countries. But the consequences of the manufacture of lindano have not disappeared

The danger of the lindano comes from which, like all the organoclorados ones in addition to being toxic it has the capacity to be stored in the alive beings (bioacumulación . He is harmful for the human health and the atmosphere

The HCH is assimilated ingesting it, breathing it or touching it and its poisonous effects they depend mainly on the amount of isomers that form it and on the amount of gamma isomer that contains. If it is taken in great amounts, or that it is not normal, but it can happen in some accidental cases, the HCH causes headaches fatigue, weakness, malaise, insomnia, diarreas, vomit and fever, and even the death, if it were taken in very great amounts. To small doses, but in long exhibitions (chronic toxicity) cause hepáticos, renales, hormonal, gynecological, sanguineous problems (anemias) and of the nervous system. On the other hand, one has been that in several animals he is cancerigenic, and it would be possible to be thought that also it it can be for the man, although this is still not demonstrated La the WHO recommends to treat the HCH and their isomers as if they were cancerigenic.

From the environmental point of view, to the being a compound to apolar, the HCH is lipofílico. Además biodegrada slowly and is very stable in normal environmental conditions. Therefore, the HCH is stored easily in the alive beings and the atmosphere. The environmental HCH is degraded almost exclusively by means of anaerobic bacteria. Therefore, in places of aerobic conditions or few anaerobic bacteria, the HCH can remain many years in the surroundings. If HCH is spilled en.grandes amounts (so and as it has become in garbage dumps), they do lack many years soon so that that HCH disappears completely. In spite of all this, during many years they have not been taken in serious the dangers that could entail the use of the HCH and in many places, among them the Basque Country, has been spilled to the medio.ambiente without no type of control. Nowadays we realize of the necessity to solve the problems originated by these spills, and the difficulty to do it since, still a viable process does not exist to surely destroy the lindano mixed with earth.

During many years, two companies located in Euskadi have been making lindano: Bilbao Chemicals (Barakaldo.1947-1987) and Nexana (Erandio 1952-1982). In these years they have been spilling the remainders of HCH without no safety measure type of processing nor... Until year 1953 in the case of Bilbao Chemicals and the 1974 in the case of Nexana, all the HCH (it mixes of several isomers) produced was sold like insecticide. Nevertheless, as of these years it was begun to separate the gamma isomer (more cash) and one began to only sell lindano. The relation between commercial product and remainders is of 1:9, and consequently, since it was begun to separate the gamma isomer began to store numerous remainders in the pavilions. Then they began to spill these remainders without no type of control. This is the cause of which more they have been spilled and mixed with earth and 80,000 remainders metric ton, remaining in pure state in the factory of 4,500 Barakaldo metric ton to the closing of the company Bilbao Chemicals.

Nowadays lindano in the Basque Country does not take place. Nevertheless, the problem has not been solved with the closing of Bilbao.Chemicals and Nexana, since it is to determine what is going away to make with the remainders scattered around the zones de.producción and with the pure HCH of Barakaldo.

In individual, the problem of grounds contaminated with HCH does not seem to have a clear solution nowadays. 36 garbage dumps of lindano mixed with earth and other remainders have been detected. Most is in Bizkaia. The solutions that could occur to contaminated grounds are cracking, the inertización and the incineration. Of these, the last one is ea unique that fulfills the conditions established by the international institutions, but when being great amounts of earth, its cost is excessive. By all it, it has been decided to store earth contaminated in a Cell of Security while is a suitable technology. This measurement will serve to eliminate the environmental damages and of health that could cause these earth in the period search of the system to use.

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