Continuing pesticide hazards in developing countries

Wednesday, February 8, 1995 - 11:00

A report released in January by the Pesticides Trust (UK) indicates that corporate strategies to expand markets for pesticides and the increasing export of agricultural produce from developing countries are leading to an increase in pesticide use in developing countries.

"The Pesticide Trail: The Impact of Trade Controls on Reducing Pesticide Hazards in Developing Countries" finds that in spite of specific actions to address pesticide problems, these problems persist, and conditions of use in most developing countries are largely unchanged.

The report examines the effects of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure in reducing pesticide hazards in developing countries by presenting five case studies (Mexico, Indonesia, Philippines, Paraguay and Senegal).

The PIC procedure was adopted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation in 1989 to ensure that governments would be informed of hazardous pesticides in trade, and have the right to prohibit their import. The measure was introduced as a way to address pesticides causing health or environmental hazards under conditions of use in developing countries.

The five case studies illustrate continuing health and environmental problems associated with pesticide use in developing countries, as well as problems related to government regulation of pesticides.

The study of Paraguay revealed that aldrin is widely used in that country; however, the authors were unable to track down any information about the exporters and suppliers of this chemical. In both Paraguay and Senegal, the governments have formally indicated willingness to participate in the PIC process, but internal conflicts have blocked implementation of the procedure. The Indonesia study demonstrates that pesticide use can be reduced with farmer training techniques, but that in spite of this, the market for pesticides continues to grow.

The areas of concern related to pesticide use in developing countries identified over the last 30 years are as much a reality today as when they were first observed. They include:

high rates of illiteracy and inability to read complex label instructions;

lack of clean water for washing;

absence of medical facilities and no access to antidotes;

inability to afford protective clothing or equipment;

the virtual impossibility of wearing protective clothing in hot and humid climates;

mixing of hazardous active ingredients by hand;

inappropriate use of pesticides (e.g. head lice control and fish drying);

reuse of containers for food or water storage.

According to the report, there has been some shifting away from use of the more environmentally persistent organochlorine pesticides, but overall pesticide use in developing countries is increasing.

The country studies also make clear that World Health Organisation (WHO) class Ia (extremely hazardous), Ib (highly hazardous) and II (moderately hazardous), and in particular organophosphate and carbamates, are in regular and routine use in developing countries.

The report makes a number of recommendations to improve the effectiveness of the PIC procedure. These include:

making PIC a legally binding instrument;

banning the export of pesticides banned in the country of production;

speeding procedures to include additional pesticides in PIC;

providing more training workshops for both government officials and NGOs;

requiring that governments allow access to trade information to ensure that PIC is meeting its intended objectives;

requiring that governments participating in PIC disclose additional information that comes to their notice on the potentially harmful effects of pesticides;

providing importing governments with information on non-chemical alternatives to hazardous pesticides;

providing technical assistance both to develop regulatory capacity and to promote sustainable agriculture based on non-chemical alternatives.

[From Pesticide Action Network North America Updates Service.]