Book reviews - Pesticides News No. 32
Belgian company attacked over Malaysian
plantations
A new report published in
Flemish by Greenpeace and a Belgian university denounces the unacceptable
working conditions of people in Malaysian rubber and oilpalm plantations,
managed by the Belgian company, Socfin. Workers have to handle toxic
pesticides, such as the herbicide paraquat, in unacceptable working
conditions, resulting in many cases of poisoning.
The report aims to hold Socfin to its
responsibilities to employees, and to denounce the misuse of toxic
pesticides in the Third World. The report reveals that workers receive
very little information from the Socfin management on the risks of
pesticides they used. Protective gear, including masks and gloves, are
rarely issued. Many workers, including children and women, suffer related
health problems, including fingernail loss, chronic nose bleedings and
miscarriages.
Philip Verbelen, Dankzij paraquat heb
je voortaan geen zorgen meer met—een case-study over de betrokkenheid van
een Belgisch holding in de social wantoestande en milieuaftakeling in
maleisie, Greenpeace Belgium and Universitair Centrum voor
Ontwikkelingssamenwerking, Brusels, 1996.
Sustaining agriculture in the
South
The Gatekeeper Series of the
International Institute for Environment and Development has produced
another range of useful booklets on sustainable agriculture and resource
management, aimed at policy makers. A study of farmers in Rajasthan
analyses the shortcomings in the assumptions of designers of irrigation
schemes and makes policy proposals, pointing to the importance of an
understanding of the land tenure systems.
Networking for Sustainable
Agriculture examines the difficulties encountered by farmers in
Sub-Saharan Africa following the introduction, or re-introduction, of
animal traction as a means of combating drought. Farmers, as well as
projects promoting animal traction technologies, often work in isolation,
and developing networks has proved both cost effective, and supportive of
farmers. The paper sets out elements for successful networking.
The third paper, Through the Roadblocks:
IPM and Central American Smallholders, reflects the experience of
Zamorano—the Pan American Agricultural School in Honduras. It adds to the
growing voice in IPM critiques calling for involvement of farmers in the
design and implementation of IPM approaches, the over-academic stable from
which IPM emanates, the effect of agricultural credit and subsidies for
agrochemicals, and the need for stronger policy support from
government.
Gatekeeper Series, International Institute for Environment and Development, 3 Endsleigh Street, London WC1H 0DD, Fax +44 171 388 2826: Through the Roadblocks: IPM and Central American Smallholders (No. 56) Jeffery Bentley and Keith Andrews; The Conditions for Collective Action: Land Tenure and Farmers’ Groups in the Rajasthan Canal Project (no. 57), Saurabh Sinha; Networking for Sustainable Agriculture: Lessons from Animal Traction Development (No. 58), Paul Starkey.
Natural versus
synthetic carcinogens in food
It has been
estimated that 10-70% of human cancer mortality in the US is attributable
to the diet, with the most likely figure being 35%. At the same time, the
diet can play a role in protecting against cancer, since diets rich in
fruits and vegetables have been associated with reduced rates of cancer.
The relationship between diet and cancer has been assessed over many years
by the National Research Council in the US. As part of this process, the
Council has convened a report prepared by the US Committee on Comparative
Toxicology of Naturally Occurring Carcinogens to examine the role of
natural carcinogens and anti-carcinogens, and the relative risk of
synthetic carcinogens (such as pesticides) in the causation of
cancer.
The committee suggested that
natural components of the diet may prove to be of greater concern than
synthetic components with respect to cancer risk, although additional
evidence is required before definitive conclusions can be drawn. It was
stressed that much of the information on the carcinogenic potential on
these substances derives from animal experiments conducted at high doses,
which make it difficult to translate directly to humans because these
tests do not mimic human exposure conditions. On analysing existing
exposure databases the committee found data are either inadequate due to
analytical or collection deficiencies, or simply non-existent.
Carcinogens and anti-carcinogens in
the human diet, National Research Council, National Academy Press,
Washington DC, US, 1996, [in the UK: 12 Hid’s Close Road, Oxford, OX2
9JJ] 417pp.
Do
voluntary codes work?
It is now over ten
years since the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and
Use of Pesticides was adopted by the FAO. But while the Code has
raised awareness, it has had limited impact, and pesticide sales in
developing countries are rising. The PIC Convention and international
action against persistent organic pollutants (POPs) (see this page) is
encouraging, but what else can be done? The Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK]
assessed the
impact of the FAO Code for the Green Globe Yearbook 1996.
Offprints of the assessment of the success of the Code are available from The Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK] .
The success of a voluntary code in
reducing pesticide hazards in developing countries, Green Globe Yearbook
of International Co-operation on Environment and Development 1996, eds.
Helge Ole Bergesen, Georg Parmann, Øystein B. Thommessen, Fridtjof Nansen
Institute, Oxford University Press, 1996.
Pesticides directory
The Global Pesticides Directory is the first such
publication to come from India. It provides, on a country-by-country
basis, information on products used, pesticide companies and summaries of
relevant legislation. Coverage of countries is not uniform. Data on Asia
and Europe is more detailed than that of other regions such as Africa and
the former USSR.
The Global Pesticides Directory—1995, Suchak’s Consultancy Services, Bombay, India, Tel. +91 22 437 4198, Fax +91 22 436 0755.
 |
Order direct from Amazon.co.uk |
Ruling
corporations
When Corporations Rule the
World goes beyond the prevailing conventional wisdom to address the
often neglected issues of modern corporate power. In a well-reasoned,
extensively researched analysis, David Korten exposes the harmful effects
of economic globalisation, environmental, and political crises; and
outlines a strategy for creating localised economies that empower people
and communities within a system of global co-operation. The book does not
dwell specifically on pesticides, but it does have implications for
corporations who market these chemicals.
The book
shows how the convergence of ideological, political and technological
forces is leading to an ever-greater concentration of economic and
political power in a handful of corporations and financial institutions,
separating their interests from the human interest, and leaving the market
system blind to all but its own short term financial
gains.
Korten documents the devastating human and
environmental consequences of the successful efforts of corporations to
reconstruct values and institutions everywhere to serve narrow financial
ends. He explains why human survival depends on a community-based,
lief-centred alternative beyond the outmoded strictures of communism and
capitalism, and suggests steps to achieve it.
David C Korten, When corporations rule
the world, Earthscan, 120 Pentonville Road, London, N1 9BR, Tel +44 (0)171
278 0433, Fax +44 (0)171 278 1142.
 |
 |
Order direct from Amazon.co.uk. |
Order direct from Amazon.co.uk. |
The
quality of food
What is the quality of the
food we eat? A leading investigative food journalist, Joanna Blythman,
looks at the foods we routinely eat and see how they match up to the
standards that modern consumers are increasingly demanding—safe, high
quality, wholesome food produced with respect for animal welfare, food
workers and the environment.
Joanna
Blythman suggests organic farming as the way to go, relegating integrated
crop management, which still relies on pesticide inputs, as
‘halfway-house' agriculture. She concludes: “All that halfway-house labels
guarantee is that, in some respect, the product has been more naturally
produced than it was before. In the context of crops technically induced
in hi-tech greenhouses or pesticide packed fields, that does not amount to
much of a guarantee.”
Joanna Blythman, The food we eat,
Michael Joseph, London, 303pp.
Also Joanna
Blythman, The
Food Our Children Eat, 320 pages new edition (17 August, 2000)
Order
direct from Amazon.co.uk.
 |
Order the latest edition (600 pages, 31 January, 2002) direct from Amazon.co.uk. |
UK A-Z of
pesticides
The 1996 edition of the UK
Pesticide Guide, or the Green Book as it has become familiarly known,
is now available. It is a practical guide to what the farmer and grower
can legally use in the UK. Updated annually, this new addition contains 10
active ingredients listed for the first time. Recent approval changes
affecting the labels of sulfonylurea herbicides, isoproturon products and
organophosphorus insecticides used on carrots are reflected in amendments
to the relevant profiles. The guide includes a range of useful
information on: pesticides legislation and codes of practices;
products used by crop and pest problem; active ingredient profiles; and
suppliers of pesticides and useful contacts and label information covering
protective clothing and precautions.
UK Pesticide Guide, BCPC Publications
Sales, Bear Farm, Binfeild, Bracknell, Berkshire, RG42 5QE, Tel. 01734 342
727, Fax 01734 341 998, 1996.
1,2-dichloroethane
A WHO Task Force
has evaluated the human health and environmental effects of the fumigant
1,2-dichloroethane. Available data on the carcinogenicity of
1,2-dichloroethane in humans is limited. However, rat and mice cancer
studies have revealed it as a “probable human carcinogen”.
The majority of 1,2-dichloroethane is
released to the environment by emissions to air. It has an estimated
atmospheric lifetime of between 40 and 110 days and has a relatively
small-ozone depletion potential (0.001 relative to CFC-11). The Task Force
concludes: “an exposure that would not cause adverse effects in humans by
any route of exposure cannot be estimated. Consequently, all appropriate
measures should be taken to eliminate or minimise human exposure to
1,2-dichloroethane.”
1,2-dichloroethane (second edition),
Environmental Health Criteria, No. 176, WHO, 1211 Geneva 27, Switzerland,
1996, 148.
Leonardo da Vinci was
right
Not many reports begin with a
quotation from Leonardo. The Royal Commission’s report takes as its text
Leonardo’s view “We know more about the movement of celestial bodies than
about the soil underfoot.” Among many strong recommendations for a soil
protection policy the Commission also considers farmers should continue to
have free advisory visits on pollution prevention and conservation, and
that buffer strips between land and water sources should be used. It also
recommends MAFF promote ways of improving contacts between farmers
advisers and researchers and promote the wider adoption of integrated
farming techniques.
Sustainable use of Soil, Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution (Nineteenth Report), HMSO, London, 260 pp. Order direct from Amazon.co.uk.
The
new edition of the Registration Handbook
The new Registration Handbook appeared in December 1995, and does
exactly what it claims on the label. A new edition has been overdue for
some time. The new loose-leaf version is several centimetres thick, and
such is the speed of change that by May, there have been nine amendments
already.
The Registration Handbook—Pesticides, Biocides, Plant Protection Products. A guide to the policies, procedures and data requirements relating to their control within the United Kingdom, Issued jointly by the Pesticides Safety Directorate, an Executive Agency of MAFF, and the Pesticides Registration Section of HSE.