Close
to 800 million people mainly living in developing countries face chronic
under-nutrition, a further 2,000 million people suffer from micro-nutrient
deficiency diseases, and almost 200 million children under the age of five
suffer from protein or other nutritional deficiencies. As we approach the next
millennium, estimates of population growth mean that increased demands will be
placed on agriculture and food distribution systems. The global response has
been to call a World Food Summit, to be held in Rome from 13-17 November, hosted
by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations. This issue of Pesticides
News includes a supplement, Focus on Food, as a resource in which
specialists and practitioners provide their views and experience, arguing that
sustainable agriculture and an emphasis on consumption of locally produced food
are an essential basis for food security. As the BSE crisis in the UK shows,
industrial agriculture promises high yields, but carries unacceptably high risks
and costs.
We report on the swift decision of the UK Ministry of
Agriculture, Fisheries and Food to ban Roseclear, a garden pesticide. This
surprising move came after new research showed that the product caused severe
eye and skin damage when tested on laboratory animals.
We continue our series of articles on pesticide use reduction
by examining further developments in integrated farming in the Netherlands and
the UK. Joy Greenall gives her views on the proliferation of lower input systems
promoted to farmers in the UK, and argues that organic provides a sounder basis
for farmers interested in change. From Holland, Jaap de Vries outlines
initiatives such as payments to farmers not to use pesticides, crop protocols
and green labelling on supermarket produce, as ways of developing sustainable
agriculture.
Stop
press: Industry accepts responsibility for obsolete pesticides
At an FAO consultation meeting on obsolete pesticide
stocks in developing countries, the pesticide industry acknowledged its
responsibility in helping to create the problem and is now considering its
contribution towards a solution. As much as 20,000 tonnes of obsolete pesticides
have been identified in Africa and the Near East with a further estimated 80,000
posing serious health and environmental risks in other regions. A report of the
consultation will be published by FAO and the Pesticides Trust [now PAN UK]
will be reporting
more fully.
[This
article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 33, September 1996,
page 2]