KAMPALA, Sept. 5 (Xinhuanet) -- Uganda has continued to use globally outlawed chemicals that endanger humans and the environment, local press cited a report as saying on Monday.

    The state-owned newspaper The New Vision said experts had detected deadly chemicals in water collected from Lake Victoria, the country's largest water body.

    "A number of banned agro chlorinated pesticides such as DDT, endosulfan, dieldrin and lindane were detected in the air showing that they may be in use," the report said.

    These chemicals, also known as persistent organic pollutants (POP), are listed under the Stockholm Convention as the dirty dozen because they persist in the environment and threaten human health.

    Patrick Kamanda, an environment inspector from Uganda's National Environment Management Authority, was quoted as saying that global concern had been raised because POPs move far from the point of application.

    Kamanda noted that the government in conjunction with the United Nations Environment Program were taking measures to eliminate or reduce the release of POPs into the environment.

    According to the report, some of the chemicals are smuggled into Uganda while others are disguised under pseudo names.

    "Many restricted chemicals are being used by untrained persons while adulteration is common," the report was quoted as saying.

    Some experts have blamed these chemicals such as DDT for causing cancer. Enditem