By Charlotte Van Campenhout and Ammu Kannampilly
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - U.S.-funded contraceptives and medicines valued at nearly $10 million remain in a Belgian warehouse despite reports of their destruction, a spokesperson for Belgium's environment ministry said in a statement on Friday.
Sources told Reuters in July that the contraceptives, which were originally intended for poor nations, would instead be incinerated after Washington rejected offers from the United Nations and family planning organisations to buy or ship the supplies to poor nations.
A State Department spokesperson later confirmed that the U.S. government was planning to spend $167,000 to incinerate the stocks at a facility in France that handles medical waste.
The Belgian government has been engaged in diplomatic efforts to stop the destruction. Local laws in Flanders, which has its own government, ban the incineration of medicines and medical devices that have been properly stored and are still usable, even if the disposal happens in another country.
On Friday morning, Flemish Environment Minister Jo Brouns, who is responsible for the matter, sent an inspection team to the warehouse in Geel, in the province of Antwerp, following a New York Times report on Thursday that the supplies had been destroyed.
"The Enforcement Division of the Department of Environment carried out on-site inspections this morning and confirmed that no shipments have been transported for incineration," a spokesperson for Brouns said.
Flemish authorities would require a request from the U.S. government for incineration for such items to be destroyed.
"To date, such a derogation has not been requested, and therefore has not been granted," the spokesperson said. He also added that, if it were to be granted, an additional fee would apply for the amount of waste incinerated.
The New York Times quoted a spokesperson at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), which is in the process of being shut down under President Donald Trump, as saying that the supplies had been destroyed.
On Friday, however, a USAID staffer with knowledge of the matter told Reuters: "There was a miscommunication with international staff and no destruction has yet happened but we are reviewing the matter."
The supplies have been stuck for months in the warehouse in Geel following Trump's decision to freeze U.S. foreign aid in January.
The supplies, worth $9.7 million, are due to expire between April 2027 and September 2031, according to an internal document listing the warehouse stocks and verified by three sources.
They comprise contraceptive implants and pills as well as intrauterine devices to help prevent unwanted pregnancies, according to the sources and a screengrab seen by Reuters confirming the planned destruction.
U.S.-based reproductive rights organisation PAI said on Friday the decision to incinerate the supplies was "appalling."
"The Trump administration has been intentional and explicit in trying to limit access to things like pills, injectables and IUDs. They have targeted family planning and reproductive health from day one and this reflects an ideology imposed by a few, at the expense of millions," Nabeeha Kazi Hutchins, president and CEO of PAI, told Reuters.
(Reporting by Charlotte Van Campenhout and Ammu Kannampilly; Editing by Aidan Lewis and Edmund Klamann)
