Residue
analysts analysed
Earlier this year the Northwest Coalition for
Alternatives to Pesticides (NCAP) in the US sent out 26 questionnaires to local
pesticide residue analysis companies. Of these, only six were willing to work
with non-profit making organisations-generally interested in testing for
residues in homes, gardens, food and/or water. NCAP then sent spiked samples for
analysis to four out of the six laboratories to test the accuracy of their work.
Water samples were contaminated with a known concentration of 105 parts per
billion (ppb) of the herbicide 2,4-D. The results offered back to NCAP from
these private labs varied from 35 to 50 ppb of 2,4-D. In the US the maximum
concentration level (MCL) for 2,4-D is 70 ppb in drinking waster. All the labs
therefore suggested that the MCL had not been exceeded when in actual level
suggests otherwise.
Two spiked samples were also sent to an Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) lab. The average result of their analysis was higher
than all the private lab analyses at 76.3 ppb. The lab explained that the
EPA-approved method of testing drinking water for 2,4-D could produce results
with +/- 50% error. Thus, a lab could expect to obtain results of between 52 and
157 ppb from a spiked sample of 105 ppb.
Journal of Pesticides Reform, Fall 1995.
Pesticides
threaten peace
An Israeli agricultural settlement on the new
Jordanian border cultivates on leased land which lies just inside Jordan. In
previous years the farmers have carried out calendar spraying using aerial
application. This year permission was needed from the Jordanian army for a
foreign aircraft to enter their air space and apply pesticides.
All went well, with permission granted in response to an
application made a number of days before the spraying was to be carried out. But
when the commanding officer went on leave, his replacement knew nothing of the
arrangement. When the spray plane pilot applied for permission to fly into
Jordan, the officer applied to his superiors for authorization, but time passed
and no authorization was issued. The farmers panicked thinking they would lose
their crops and the pilot sprayed without Jordanian permission. An international
incident ensued which has now fortunately been resolved.
Yedoit Ahnaronot 20/9/95.
OP
sheep dip claim pay-out
An Australian sheep farmer affected by diazinon,
an organophosphate (OP) sheep dip has been awarded Aus$ 260,000 (US$196,000). It
is thought to be the first case in which an individual has successfully sued for
damages from OP poisoning. The shearer, Bevan McKenzie, was working with sheep
that had been treated for fly strike. In 1993, he was splashed with the chemical
and inhaled its vapours while working on two farms. His employer was found
negligent by the Supreme Court of New South Wales.
Landworker, November 1995.
Aerial
spray challenge
PAN-Brazil has asked for a public inquiry into
aerial spraying of pesticides in the Itapocu, Cubatao and Pirai valleys, the
main sources of water for the North East region of the state of Santa Catarina.
Interviews with banana growers indicate that there are frequent sprayings of a
mixture of mineral oil with Tilt (containing the fungicide propiconazole), which
is manufactured and sold in Brazil by Ciba-Geigy. When the product was
registered at the Ministry of Agriculture, no details of symptoms or antidote
were provided.
Recently local doctor Walter Falcone's car was so
intensively sprayed while driving through a banana plantation, belonging to Luiz
Agatti in the municipality of Araquari in Santa Catarina, that he had to pull
over and clean his windscreen in order to continue driving safely.
Aerial spraying is becoming much more common in the region
and drift is an increasing problem, especially in view of the population density
and the fact that the areas of land being sprayed are small, many only 10,000
m2.
A Notica 9/7/95
Child
'dipped' results in £6,000 fine
A farmer from Yorkshire in the North of England
has been fined £6,000 (US$9,000) after three-year-old Ryan Ellis fell
into his bath of OP sheep dip. The child, who was kept in intensive care for
four days after the incident, had disappeared from view whilst his mother was
exercising a horse in a field. She found him laying face down in the dip.
Bradford Magistrates heard that there was inadequate fencing
to prevent young children gaining access to the sheep dipper. Mr. Ives of Blue
Hills Farms, near Bradford was convicted of failing to provide a suitable cover
to prevent a child falling into the dip.
Farmers Weekly, 10/10/95.
Head lice
scotched
The concern over chemical head lice treatment in
the UK (see p. 4) has reached Parliament. A recent debate in the House of Lords
raised many serious issues. On a more quirky note, Earl Gowrie asked: "if
the demon strikes, a small application of good Scotch whisky does the
trick." Could this be the real reason why the Chancellor of the Exchequer
recently reduced the tax on whisky by 27p-the first such cut in 100 years?
Hansard, Lords, 27/11/95.
More
than an 'Eiffel'
Annual crops of fruit and vegetables from Spain
and Italy have been treated with pesticides equal to the weight of 26 Eiffel
Towers. Annual usage in Spain is some 134,000 tonnes and in Italy 91,000
tonnes. The Eiffel Tower contains 8,757 tonnes of metal.
Guardian 28/10/95.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 30,
December 1995, page 17]