The first African training workshop on the
operation of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure took place in South
Africa in September, bringing together government regulators, industry and some
non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in eastern and southern Africa. PIC gives
countries the possibility of prohibiting the import of certain banned or
severely restricted pesticides (or other chemicals), and particularly aims to
serve governments in developing countries. While pesticide use in Africa is
lower than the rest of the world, it is the continent with the least
infrastructure for chemical regulation.
The
workshop was organised by the UN Institute for Training and Research, in
conjunction with FAO and UNEP. Among the issues discussed were:
national mechanisms to consult all interested partners, including NGOs and research institutions in decision-making;
the need for annual meetings of the Designated National Authorities (DNAs), who operate PIC, within a region;
the need for DNAs to have better equipment and structures for communicating and sharing information.
A point made strongly was the importance of information exchange within African regions, both to strengthen chemical control and share resources, including information on problems and incidents of poisonings, problem solving efforts, harmonising and developing common approaches. Many pesticides cause problems under the conditions of use in developing countries, but are not banned or severely restricted elsewhere. Better information on problems could help in developing more satisfactory recommendations for targeting these problem pesticides.
Report by Grace Ohayo Mitoko, who attended the workshop for the East Africa Pesticides Network.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 30,
December 1995, page 19]