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P A N U P S
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Pesticide Action Network
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Report Shows Trade Controls Inadequate in Reducing Pesticide
Hazards in Developing Countries
January 19, 1995
A report released this month by The Pesticides Trust (UK)
indicates that corporate strategies seeking 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 Organization 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, their governments have formally
indicated willingness to participate in the PIC process, but
internal conflicts have effectively blocked implementation of
the procedure. The Indonesia case study demonstrates that
pesticide use can be reduced with successful farmer training
techniques to promote IPM, but that in spite of this, the
market for pesticides in that country continues to grow.
The areas of concern related to pesticide use in developing
countries identified over the last thirty 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);
-- re-use 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 Organization (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.
Source: The Pesticide Trail: The Impact of Trade Controls on
Reducing Pesticide Hazards in Developing Countries, 1995, The
Pesticides Trust.
Contact: Barbara Dinham, The Pesticides Trust, Eurolink
Business Centre, 49 Effra Road, London, SW2 1BZ UK; phone
(44-71) 274 8895; fax (44-71) 274 9084; email
pesttrust@gn.apc.org. Copies of the report are available for
#25 (#10 to non-profit organizations).
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