Saturday, March 20, 2010
More exposure of people to a wide variety of pesticides/ chemicals in developing countries compared to developed World
Due to the diverse numbers of pesticides/ chemicals which are imported/ produced in developing countries and used without regulations and enforcement, now people in these countries are more exposed to these chemicals as compared to people in developed World. Many factors helped for this higher exposure, among them less knowledge and information about these dangerous compounds. The situation in these countries is quiet different than developed nations. In many of these developing countries there are no NGOs and community workers to make the people aware about their exposure to pesticides/ chemicals and consequences. Now in developed nations there are so many NGOs and local community workers which stand against these dangerous compounds and do not let the corporations follow only their profits. They fight for the right of people and especially for children and other more vulnerable groups. In developing countries now people and in particular children are open exposed to these wide range of pesticides/ chemicals not only through consumption of food but also through all their daily life and there are no alerting NGOs and agencies to protect them. During the past decade every year there were more than 25 million acute poisoning with only pesticides in agricultural workers of developing countries. The problem shows itself more clear when we realize that more pesticides are used in developed nations with too much lower numbers of acute poisonings. Now in many Asian countries there is daily increase of exposure to polluted rice (different heavy metals) and to polluted fish (Hg, PCBs and other pollutants) and people have no other option because of hunger and ever increasing population. According to latest scientific documentations in pregnant mothers most of these dangerous compounds pass through placenta to the baby and are detected in the body of many newborn babies and female workers in rural areas are more exposed.
Saturday, June 28, 2008
Bridging the gap between South and North for pesticide/ chemical regulations and research
The situation of pesticide and chemical market, advertising, transportation and distribution, labeling, worker protection and in general regulatory activities in developing countries is very bad and need immediate support from international scientific community and also from international regulatory agencies to prevent more misuse. Due to the lack of regulatory bodies and enforcement in these countries and specially lack of proper labeling and distribution and finally lack of knowledge in final consumer many cases of suicide using pesticides happens every year in each of these countries. Pesticides are sold in food stores and sometimes in open containers with no labels. Reading the labels before use rarely happens due to lack of ability for reading. In most of these developing countries there is absolutely no enforcement power (if there is a written regulations at all) and licensing procedure for agricultural worker protection and these workers do their spraying with any type of equipment that they can find with no protecting clothing.
Role of local governments and politics: Due to the unstable situations of governments in many of developing countries some very important tasks like pesticide/ chemical regulations and enforcement are ignored and in most cases they only exist on paper. In some of these countries mafia like groups are clearly involved in pesticide marketing and distribution and they also cover some government agents. Unfortunately the recent Global political problems and also the very recent food and environmental crisis are adding to the problem by widening the gap between North as the provider of these compounds and also the place of research bodies and regulatory agencies and South as the receiver of these compounds (sometimes as gift!) and as the blind consumer. Perhaps the worst part of governments and political roles in this bad scenario in developing countries is that all of international conventions that deal with Global pesticide/ chemical problems are in the hand of governments in developing countries and in absolute control of them and this is a big problem. These governments simply and rudely send their political and in most cases non-scientific agents to these international conventions like Stockholm, Basel, IFCS etc. and in surprise these international conventions accept these governmental agents instead of genuine scientific people. Now in the 21 Century it is the time that those people involved in international conventions give more opportunities to representatives of NGOs from developing countries, to the real academic/ scientific people from developing countries instead of only dealing with governments.
Role of scientific/ academic research: Unfortunately academics and those scientists employed by these governments cannot do so much to solve the problem. In most of these developing countries research funds are not available or if it is, is not distributed correctly to reach the real final scientist to conduct the research. Due to the lack of local research on pesticide/ chemicals in these countries scientists use those regulations provided by researchers from developed World and also from Global regulatory agencies and this in part makes more problems. For example regulations written for developed countries are not suited for developing countries due to the lack of proper infrastructures and also different consuming/ eating habits. In oil producing developing countries allocation of the research money is not correct and is never distributed according to the need and according to the country’s problem but unfortunately the money is simply allocated to unnecessary programs and in most of these countries to research on military etc.
Consumer lack of knowledge in developing countries: One big difference between consumers in Northern and Southern countries is level of knowledge of final consumers. In developed countries not only most of people are more scientifically educated as compared to the people in developing countries but also many other factors help the final consumer in developed World about compounds like pesticides. In developed countries many NGOs and community workers are working to make the people aware about what they consume and eat but in developing countries not only the existence of NGOs is under threat but also there is no community work.
Role of local governments and politics: Due to the unstable situations of governments in many of developing countries some very important tasks like pesticide/ chemical regulations and enforcement are ignored and in most cases they only exist on paper. In some of these countries mafia like groups are clearly involved in pesticide marketing and distribution and they also cover some government agents. Unfortunately the recent Global political problems and also the very recent food and environmental crisis are adding to the problem by widening the gap between North as the provider of these compounds and also the place of research bodies and regulatory agencies and South as the receiver of these compounds (sometimes as gift!) and as the blind consumer. Perhaps the worst part of governments and political roles in this bad scenario in developing countries is that all of international conventions that deal with Global pesticide/ chemical problems are in the hand of governments in developing countries and in absolute control of them and this is a big problem. These governments simply and rudely send their political and in most cases non-scientific agents to these international conventions like Stockholm, Basel, IFCS etc. and in surprise these international conventions accept these governmental agents instead of genuine scientific people. Now in the 21 Century it is the time that those people involved in international conventions give more opportunities to representatives of NGOs from developing countries, to the real academic/ scientific people from developing countries instead of only dealing with governments.
Role of scientific/ academic research: Unfortunately academics and those scientists employed by these governments cannot do so much to solve the problem. In most of these developing countries research funds are not available or if it is, is not distributed correctly to reach the real final scientist to conduct the research. Due to the lack of local research on pesticide/ chemicals in these countries scientists use those regulations provided by researchers from developed World and also from Global regulatory agencies and this in part makes more problems. For example regulations written for developed countries are not suited for developing countries due to the lack of proper infrastructures and also different consuming/ eating habits. In oil producing developing countries allocation of the research money is not correct and is never distributed according to the need and according to the country’s problem but unfortunately the money is simply allocated to unnecessary programs and in most of these countries to research on military etc.
Consumer lack of knowledge in developing countries: One big difference between consumers in Northern and Southern countries is level of knowledge of final consumers. In developed countries not only most of people are more scientifically educated as compared to the people in developing countries but also many other factors help the final consumer in developed World about compounds like pesticides. In developed countries many NGOs and community workers are working to make the people aware about what they consume and eat but in developing countries not only the existence of NGOs is under threat but also there is no community work.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Wednesday, April 23, 2008
Pesticide regulations for developing countries
How pesticides are handled in developing countries:
Pesticides have a dilemma nature and because of this nature to use them safely there must be done lots of research and there should exist lots of laws and regulations and enforcement, now let say that this is followed correctly in developed countries where the industry exists but the story and scenario is quiet different in developing countries. In most of these developing countries there are no research/ regulations or if there is it is not followed / enforced absolutely and this is the problem and because it deals with the life of people and health of the environment it is a real big problem. When it comes to spraying technology and worker protection it is never practiced by ordinary farmers in these countries. These are my personal experiences/ observations during more than 35 years being involved in pesticide science work. Living more than 15 years in Mazandaran, Golastan and Gillan the three beautiful Northern Provinces of Iran by the Caspian Sea I observed so many cases of pesticide intoxication. This is because people do their spraying without any protective clothing, most of times with bare foot and body because of hot weather and with any type of spraying equipment that they can find and they use lots of pesticides in their rice paddies, cotton fields and citrus orchards etc.
So as a result where there is no scientific research and laws and regulations as in developing countries then most use of pesticides should stop because no rules are followed
Pesticides have a dilemma nature and because of this nature to use them safely there must be done lots of research and there should exist lots of laws and regulations and enforcement, now let say that this is followed correctly in developed countries where the industry exists but the story and scenario is quiet different in developing countries. In most of these developing countries there are no research/ regulations or if there is it is not followed / enforced absolutely and this is the problem and because it deals with the life of people and health of the environment it is a real big problem. When it comes to spraying technology and worker protection it is never practiced by ordinary farmers in these countries. These are my personal experiences/ observations during more than 35 years being involved in pesticide science work. Living more than 15 years in Mazandaran, Golastan and Gillan the three beautiful Northern Provinces of Iran by the Caspian Sea I observed so many cases of pesticide intoxication. This is because people do their spraying without any protective clothing, most of times with bare foot and body because of hot weather and with any type of spraying equipment that they can find and they use lots of pesticides in their rice paddies, cotton fields and citrus orchards etc.
So as a result where there is no scientific research and laws and regulations as in developing countries then most use of pesticides should stop because no rules are followed
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