Women and Pesticides
October 7, 1993
Throughout the developing world, women produce most of the
agricultural products and are the backbone of farming. They
produce 80% of the food in sub-Saharan Africa, 46% in the
Caribbean, 31% in North Africa and the Middle East, and 50- 60%
in Asia. As a result, women have daily contact with many
dangerous pesticides and suffer from a variety of pesticide-
related health problems. In Malaysia, for example, 80-90% of the
field and general workers in the agricultural plantation sector
are women, including 30,000 pesticide sprayers. They work with
wide range of pesticides, including paraquat, lindane and captan.
To address this problem, PAN Asia and the Pacific has started a
"Women and Pesticides" campaign to compile data on the impact of
pesticides on women's health, to provide information and
resources to women on pesticides and to involve women's groups in
pesticide issues. The campaign includes a series of national
training workshops and a seven country study on the impact of
pesticides on women.
The first country study is on women pesticide users in Malaysia.
The 1992 study found that women are usually the lowest paid
agricultural workers and end up in the most hazardous jobs,
including pesticide spraying. The large majority of these women
work on a contractual basis, so their jobs are temporary, poorly
paid and unprotected. They face great hazards from the use of
highly toxic pesticides on a daily basis. They also suffer from
a range of pesticide- related health problems including liver,
lung and kidney damage, seizures, reproductive problems and even
death.
Unfortunately, due to high unemployment and lack of economic
opportunities, many women feel they have few options other than
working with pesticides. As Meena, a pesticide sprayer in one of
Malaysia's plantations explains in "Victims Without Voice":
"After inhaling paraquat for five years, I sort of lost touch
with the feeling of tightness in my chest. Well, what can I do if
it is painful? I have nine mouths to feed (a husband and 8
children). If I decide to take my health seriously, my family
will go hungry. Pesticides or no pesticides, I have to spray to
support my family."
The study found many other problems with women and pesticides in
Malaysia. Although some pesticide containers have warning
labels, many of the women are illiterate and cannot read the
warnings. Malaysian laws on the storage of pesticides are often
ignored on the plantations so pesticides are frequently stored in
workers' homes. It is not uncommon, the study says, for
pesticide containers to be recycled for domestic use, often for
storing food and water. A common phenomenon in pesticide
poisonings is drinking "black coffee", a dark pesticide mixture
mistaken for coffee or coca-cola.
Another study conducted by the Institute for Consumer Research
and Education in Indonesia in April 1992 found similar problems.
While weeding, harvesting and working in the fields, women came
into daily contact with pesticide residues. But neither men nor
women wore protective clothing while spraying, except for a hat
to protect them from the sun. Sandals and shoes were never worn
in the fields, even if pesticides had been applied that day or
the day before. The study also found a great lack of knowledge
about pesticides-- 98 of the 100 women surveyed did not know that
pesticides residues remain on plants, and 97 did not know the
basic symptoms of pesticide poisonings.
To highlight the problems women face from pesticides and to
educate women about pesticide use and poisonings, PAN Asia and
the Pacific (AP) is organizing a series of workshops on women and
pesticides. PAN AP has already held workshops in Malaysia,
Korea, the Philippines, India, Thailand and Sri Lanka and will
workshops later this year in Bangladesh and Pakistan. PAN AP
will also conduct six other country studies on the impact of
pesticides on women. In addition to Malaysia, the studies will
examine Indonesia, Thailand, India, Korea, Sri Lanka and the
Philippines.
Source: V. Arumugam, "Victims Without Voice: A Study of Women
Pesticide Workers in Malaysia", Tenaganita and PAN AP, 1992;
"Pesticide Monitor" PAN Indonesia, July 1992; and "Women,
Agriculture and Pesticides", Terompet July/August 1993, PAN AP.
For More Information contact: PANNA or PAN AP (e-mail--
peg:panap)
=============================================================
The Pesticide Action Network Updates Service (PANUPS) is a
pesticide-related news service posted weekly by the Pesticide
Action Network North America Regional Center (PANNA). PANNA is
located at 116 New Montgomery Street, #810, San Francisco, CA
94105. Tel: (415) 541-9140. Fax: (415) 541-9253. To receive a
standard information packet about the Pesticide Action Network
send a short e-mail message to panna- info@igc.apc.org.
=============================================================