PAN International Website

Pesticides News No 37
The Journal of the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK]
An international perspective on the health and environmental effects of pesticides
Quarterly/September 1997

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Editorial 2

Third world
Zimbabwe hazards - too close to home 3
Evidence from the Zimbabwe Institute of Permaculture (ZIP) Research shows farmers are dependent on costly agro-inputs and have easy access to dangerous chemicals, leading to increasing numbers of casualties in rural communities.

Invisible farmers - rural roles in Pakistan 4
Women play a key role in the rural economy in Pakistan, and their agricultural labour leads to direct exposure to pesticides. As in many societies, there is a gender bias not only among policy makers, but also in society, which reinforces the problems facing rural women. Nasira Habib has interviewed women and conducted in-depth surveys in seven villages near Liaqatpur, in the Sindh, since 1993.

Disposal
Dumped pesticides persist in Tanzania 6
Tanzania is facing problems of accumulation of obsolete pesticides, as with many other developing countries. Alcheraus Rwazo reports on existing hazardous stockpiles. He makes recommendations for their disposal and ways to stop similar build-ups in the future.

Third world
Chile pays the price for exports 8
Throughout the 1990s there has been an intense debate in Chile concerning the widespread misuse of pesticides which local doctors claim were responsible for congenital deformities in babies and severe health problems among farm workers. Dr. Jane Newbold reports.

Sustainable agriculture
Safe farming - safer food? 10
Patrick Holden, Director of the Soil Association, is a campaigner for improved sustainable agriculture in the UK. He discussed with David Buffin his concern that the Food Standards Agency will fail to take sufficient account of the need to reform agricultural practice using the experience of a reconstructed Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF).

Environmental quality
Green Flag Park Awards 12
On 9 September 1997 the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK] and the Institute for Leisure and Amenity Management awarded 'Green Flags' to seven parks in England (see photos). Liz Greenhalgh reports that this is not an industry 'slap on the back award' to be hung on the wall of the Director of Leisure's office but an independent bid to raise public and professional expectations of what makes a good urban park.

Environmental fate
What's the score? - Eco-rating pesticides 14
The European Union has recently agreed to fund research to evaluate methods and techniques which rank pesticides according to their environmental impact. Kathy Lewis reports on the UK contribution.

Sustainable agriculture
Action plan for UK pesticides policy 15
The Labour government came into power on 1 May. We gauge the opinions of Ministers at the Ministry of Agriculture Fisheries and Food (MAFF) on pesticide issues and sustainable agriculture to assess the potential for change.

Company news 7

European news 9
Denmark aims for organic agriculture
On 15 May the Folketing (Danish Parliament) called on the government to appoint an independent expert committee to assess the effects of a phase-out of all pesticide use in agriculture.

Water

Water incidents

Reduction 18
Using less pesticides saves you money - it's official
A new report has been released, commissioned by the UK Department of Environment looking at the financial costs and benefits to farmers associated with the adoption of techniques that aim to minimise the risks from pesticides.

UK News 19
New research on old pesticides
Dr. David Ray reports on recent advances in the complex field of organophosphate (OP) toxicity in humans. He and his co-workers have made a major breakthrough in purifying and sequencing the pesticide induced polyneuropathy (NTE) protein, allowing them to predict which pesticides are dangerous with much greater accuracy.

Fact sheet 20
2,4-D
The herbicide 2,4-D was first identified in 1942 and marketed in 1944. Despite its decades of usage, there are still data gaps concerning 2,4-D's effects on human health and environment risk.

Small doses 21

Book reviews and resources 22-23

 
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