More than 30% of pesticides in the former USSR were produced in excess of reasonable economic or production needs. In the USSR, pesticides were assumed as a vital necessity and as an inevitable factor of agriculture production. Distribution of pesticides among different regions was made without any accounting for local environment and climate conditions, nothing to say about accounting for rates of their environmental detoxification. Besides that, in the majority of cases, pesticides were stored in unsuitable storage facilities (farm storehouses, barns, cellars, abandoned houses, former churches, temporary wooden storages, etc.).

At the same time, authorities withheld information on serious adverse health and environmental impacts of pesticides. Immediate positive effects of pesticide application (killing cockroaches and housebugs in residential houses; killing silkworms, woodworms, ticks, etc. in forestry; killing beet-pests, potato beetles, combating oidium and weeds, etc., in agriculture) obscured less evident long-term adverse environmental impacts of application of these chemicals - i.e. the fact that a newly cleared environmental niche may be immediately occupied by a new, potentially more dangerous population. Even more serious adverse effects of feckless application of pesticides were associated with migration of toxic substances in environmental media and accumulation of their toxic residues in drinking water, wild and agricultural plants, in food products of plant and animal origin.

50 years of intensive application of pesticides in many regions of Russia resulted in serious environmental changes, including some irreversible ones. It seems fairly possible that potato beetles would not have succeeded to occupy so vast areas of the country if large scale application of chemical insecticides did not result in elimination of their natural competitors. The same is true for the severe contemporary "offensive" of encephalitis vectors (ticks) - these ticks benefited from the large scale application of pesticide dusts in 1950s - 1960s, that resulted in extinction of may-bugs and decreased bird species diversity. It is well known, that notwithstanding the imposition of the absolute ban on DDT use, since 1972, its application was merely limited but not prohibited. The large scale application of chemicals in agriculture resulted in thousands of abandoned or dilapidated storage facilities (in the majority of cases, these facilities are located nearby water bodies). After the recent decline of agricultural infrastructure, many storage facilities (as well as residual pesticides) became abandoned. In many cases, abandoned pesticides and fertilisers may be found nearby roads, in forests, ravines, nearby water bodies, etc.

So far, Russia has failed to complete a full inventory of obsolete, banned and unusable pesticides and their storage facilities at the national territory.

As a result of preliminary inventories (based on official sources of information) the following facts were revealed.

As at early 2003, more than 24 thousand tons of obsolete pesticides were identified, many of these chemicals belong to highly toxic persistent substances and their storage conditions do not meet applicable requirements.

The most high amounts of obsolete pesticides were identified in Krasnodar Krai (2.7 thousand tons), Chelyabinsk Oblast (1.5 thousand tons, including POPs), in Rostov Oblast, Voronezh Oblast, Kurgan Oblast, Altai Krai (about 1.0 thousand tons in each region). The largest stockpiles of such pesticides were accumulated in the Southern Federal District (more than 4.6 thousand tons).

In Rostov Oblast, 68 pesticide storage facilities were found to be makeshift storages, 18 storages facilities were found to be dilapidated or even completely destroyed. Obsolete pesticides are stored in paper and PE bags or in corrosion-pitted metal canisters.

For example, in Rostov Oblast, the pesticide burial site at the territory of "Vershinoie" Agro-company (Semikarakorsk district) seems to pose the heaviest environmental threat (more than 50 tons of mixed obsolete pesticides). In the surface soil layer at the recultivated area of the burial site, the integral concentration of toxic chlorinated organic substances exceeds the applicable MAC in 20 times. At the same time, soil samples taken at nearby cultivated land areas revealed 7-fold excess. In Vershinniy township, high toxicity of sources of drinking water was revealed as well as high sulphur levels in water. Nearby Ozerskiy township (Verkhne-Donskoy district), dilapidated inter-district chemicals storage facility resulted in contamination of groundwater - water tests in wells and artesian wells revealed high integral water toxicity. The site under investigation is located at the right bank of the Don, as a result, it is fairly possible that contaminated groundwater may infiltrate the river. In 1977, nearby Bataisk town, the experimental site for underground burial or pesticides and pesticide packaging was established (with burial capacity of 1500 tons in 12 explosion-generated underground cavities). Toxic contamination at the site is not monitored by observation wells.

In Krasnodar Krai, pesticides were buried in 1974 and 1986, (Krymskiy district, Varenikovskaya township) - overall, 4000 tons of pesticides of 183 different brands were buried under ground.

In Voronezh Oblast, unusable pesticides are stored in 242 storage facilities in 28 different districts (including about 90 tons of banned pesticides and 650 tons of unidentified ones).

In Tver Oblast, about 800 tons of pesticides were found (the pesticided are to be utilised), including 50 tons of chlorinated substances and 230 tons of derivatives of aliphatic chlorinated acids.

In Astrakhan Oblast and Perm Oblast, major works were implemented to collect obsolete pesticides and deliver them to specialised burial sites in Samara Oblast and Leningrad Oblast (Krasniy Bor). However, 11 pesticide storage facilities still remain in Astrakhan Oblast, the majority of these storage facilities are either dilapidated or do not meet applicable standards.

In Kurgan Oblast (Lebiazhevskiy district), about 887 tons of banned, unidentified and unusable pesticides were buried. The burial site is expected to be liquidated with utilisation of the pesticides.

In Omsk Oblast, 327 tons of obsolete pesticides are stored in different storage facilities (including 48 specialised facilities from the overall figure of 111 storages) and buried, now, a project has been developed to relocate these pesticides to the site for utilisation of toxic industrial waste of 1st hazard class.

In the Republic of Tatarstan, 975 tons of pesticides are stored in more than 800 storage facilities.

In Kirov Oblast, in 2003, authorities decided to collect all banned pesticides and store them in a single storage facility.

There are 366 tons of pesticides in Moscow Oblast, including 134 tons of pesticides in 323 storage facilities (the majority of these facilities belong to substandard storages, and 163 facilities are modified to serve pesticide storage purposes).

In Orenburg Oblast, from the overall 760 tons of pesticides, 600 tons were temporarily buried.

In Sakhalin Oblast, 91 tons of pesticides are stored in substandard facilities and 297 tons of pesticides were temporarily buried.

In Tyumen Oblast, 546 tons of pesticides are stored in dilapidated storage facilities and aheap.

In 1997, the framework law of Russia in the sphere of pesticide management was approved - Law on Safe Management of Pesticides and Agrochemicals. The Law stipulated the division of responsibilities and measures of state control in the course of registration, transportation, application of pesticides, storage and utilisation of unusable chemicals. However, from that time, the situation in the sphere of management of obsolete and unusable pesticide did not improve.

In 2002, the Security Council of the Russian Federation reviewed issues of environmental security, associated with management of pesticides and agrochemicals and submitted its recommendations to all constituents of the Russian Federation and the Federal Government.

The Security Council of the Russian Federation recommended:

• interested federal executive agencies and governmental bodies of constituents of the Russian Federation - to take additional measures to develop action plans for modernisation of storage facilities for unusable and banned pesticides and agrochemicals, their phased utilisation (elimination); they also should ensure implementation of these action plans (since 2003) due to financing from the federal budget, budgets of constituents of the Russian Federation and extra-budgetary sources;

• governmental bodies of constituents of the Russian Federation - to develop and implement regional programs (action plans) for protection from adverse health and environmental impacts of pesticides and agrochemicals;

• to survey territories around production facilities of pesticides and agrochemicals, to develop (at the base of these surveys) measures for control of environmental and sanitary situation and measures for regulation of business activities at polluted territories;

• to take measures for strengthening of state control of compliance with environmental security regulations in management of pesticides and agrochemicals;

• federal executive agencies, governmental bodies of constituents of the Russian Federation, research and non-governmental organisations, mass media outlets - to intensify public awareness raising activities for prevention of adverse health and environmental impacts of pesticides and agrochemicals.

Recommendation of the Security Council do not refer to public roles in identification of illegal storages of obsolete, unusable and banned pesticides. However, it is clear that it would be impossible to conduct a complete inventory of these chemicals without mobilisation of all social sectors. Therefore, it is very important to develop methodologies for primary inventory of obsolete, unusable and banned pesticides and agrochemicals, to discuss these methodologies with representatives of interested non-governmental organisations. Such methodological recommendations should serve as a tool for local communities, non-governmental organisations, all parties, interested in identification of illegal storages of these hazardous chemicals. Practical application of these recommendations should be accessible to the general public and should become a component of official reports on inventory of obsolete pesticides.