The herbicide paraquat is one of the original Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Dirty Dozen pesticides listed in 1985 for immediate phase-out in use and production. Years later the campaign continues through a report launched by five public interest groups that calls on the manufacturer Syngenta to reconsider its position and remove paraquat from the world-wide market place (see page 3). New research has found that paraquat causes unacceptable injuries, especially under the poor working conditions often found in developing countries.
Cambodia is a country with many social, economic and political problems to address. Now PN reports on the added threat to its people, food, water and wildlife posed by chemical pesticides (see pages 6-8). Cambodia is becoming a dumping ground for many pesticides deemed by the World Health Organisation to be highly or extremely hazardous to human health. Some inroads are being made by local non-governmental organisations, but there is a need for a more concerted effort from the government, outside agencies and the agrochemical industry.
In the Indian state Andhra Pradesh (AP), farmers have criticised new government policies for agriculture and rural development (see pages 12-14). A citizens' jury made up of representatives of small and marginal farmers in AP, small traders, food processors and consumers considered three different scenarios to decide which offered the best opportunities to enhance their livelihoods. In their verdicts farmers expressed a desire for an agricultural system that does not need toxic chemical pesticides. Indeed one farmer commented: ‘Pesticides are like cigarettes. People get addicted to them and use more and more … They need to be educated not to become addicted.’
In a response to rising consumer concerns about pesticides, PAN Europe has produced a draft text for a European Union Directive to bring about a reduction in the use of pesticides throughout Europe. At the October 2000 PAN Europe NGO Conference 70 delegates representing public interest groups from all over Europe agreed to work together on a Pesticides Use Reduction in Europe (PURE) campaign. The publication was launched on 29 May 2002 at a joint press conference organised by PAN Europe and the European Environmental Bureau. PAN Europe has put forward this draft text as a discussion tool, and welcomes comments from all stakeholders involved in the pesticides debate.
A report from PAN Germany argues that pesticide use reporting systems have a significant potential to help reduce the health and environmental impacts of pesticides. California is leading the way with detailed reporting systems which closely track the usage of each single commercial application of pesticides. The PAN Europe draft text calls for detailed monitoring in the European Union following the US example.
[This article first appeared in Pesticides News No. 56, June 2002, page 2]