The Vanished Drums of Poison: The Road to the Basel Convention, 1976–1992

In 1976, an accident occurred at the ICMESA chemical plant in Seveso, northern Italy, resulting in the release of the highly toxic dioxin TCDD into the surrounding area. The evacuation of residents, mass animal deaths, and cleanup efforts in the contaminated areas continued, etching the horror of chemical accidents into the collective consciousness of European society. According to WHO documents, health effects such as chloracne were confirmed following the accident. Another major issue was the fate of the contaminated soil. The published materials describe how drums filled with contaminated soil went missing in 1982 while being transported abroad; they were discovered in France the following year and incinerated in Basel, Switzerland, in 1985. The article positions this incident involving the removal of contaminated soil from Szébesz as a key catalyst that spurred regulations on the transboundary movement of hazardous waste. The article also includes an explanation of the Basel Convention. However, the Szébesz incident was not the sole factor behind the establishment of the Basel Convention. According to the Secretariat of the Basel Convention, a major direct factor was the international backlash in the 1980s against the export of hazardous waste from developed countries to regions such as Africa. Negotiations proceeded primarily under the leadership of UNEP, and the treaty was adopted on March 22, 1989, and entered into force on May 5, 1992. The Convention is based on three pillars: the reduction of hazardous waste generation, proper disposal, and the restriction and control of transboundary movements. It should be noted that the EU’s Seveso Directive is a clearer example of a regulatory framework directly resulting from the 1976 Seveso accident itself. Introduced in 1982, it strengthened accident prevention, risk assessment, and emergency response at factories handling hazardous substances. The historical progression from Seveso to Basel was also a process that transformed toxic substances from an issue confined solely to factory premises into one that must be tracked and managed across national borders.