State Minister for Environment and Forest Jafrul Islam Chowdhury disclosed this at a workshop on 'Nationwide Inventory of Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) in Bangladesh & Phase Out' at the Spectra Convention Centre in the city.

He said the country has a stock of DDT and other obsolete pesticides, which should be destroyed immediately.

Kamico Bangladesh Limited, which has successfully exported 2764 tonnes of zinc oxy-sulphate to the Netherlands recently for safe disposal of the environment pollutant, has organised the two-day workshop.

A US company had dumped this toxic fertiliser to Bangladesh back in 1991 after misleading the state-run Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation (BADC).

POPs are chemical substances that pollutes the environment, bio-accumulate through food chains, and pose health hazards.

At the inaugural session of the workshop, the speakers underscored the need for international cooperation for safe disposal of toxic substances as the country does not have the technology to destroy the POPs.

BADC Member Director Iqbal Hossain, Prof Imamul Haque of Dhaka University, Representative of the Dutch company AVR Marco Kortland, and Kamico Director Shamsul Arefin Chowdhury also spoke.

Kamico Managing Director Hasan Khaled were also present.