Expert warns against use of deadly chemicals in plantations.

May 3, 2006

Expert warns against use of deadly chemicals in plantations http://bond.lanesystems.com/sitegen/article.asp?wid=125 & cid=451 & aid=36829KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews) - A doctor specializing on the harmful effects of pesticides has warned residents near banana and other agricultural estates to keep watch of the chemicals used by companies in their plantations. Dr. Romeo Quijano, president of the Pesticide Action Network (PAN), has issued this warning as the global community of environmentalists celebrated Earth Day last week. Quijano said that the use of pesticides and other deadly chemicals "could be the second worse cause of mass destruction next to nuclear explosions." This as an anti-aerial spraying campaign called "Stop the

Toxic Shower!" was also launched locally by the Interface Development Interventions, Inc. and the Panaghoy sa Kinaiyahan-Coalition for Mother Earth , two of the environmental NGOs in Mindanao that stood against the spraying method to fight fungus that attacks bananas. "I have seen how people's lives were destroyed by synthetic chemicals. Women with thyroid cancers, men with prostate cancers, children with deformities and other abnormalities because of synthetic chemicals," said Quijano, a professor at the University of the Philippines-College of Medicine. "Imagine a community with many children with cleft lips and palates and severe skin diseases. There were also reports of deaths.... The truth is that pesticides and other synthetic chemicals are poison no matter how the manufacturers and even the government tell us that they are not harmful to human, Quijano stressed. In 1997, Quijano led a study on the impact of the pesticides used by the

Lorenzo-owned Lapanday Development Corporation (Ladeco) on the village of Kamukhaan in Digos, Davao del Sur. The group found out that at least 700 individuals (or 150 families), a number of them children, were allegedly poisoned by the chemicals used by Ladeco in their ground and aerial spraying practices. Among the synthetic chemicals used by the company were Paraquat, Ma-neb, Macozeb, Carbofuran, Glyphosate and Diazinon. These synthetic chemicals, Quijano noted, were already banned, if not restricted, in other countries. Mancozeb, for instance, has been identified by authorities in California as carcinogenic, Quijano said. Carbofuran, also known as Furadan, has reportedly been banned in New Zealand, Finland and Libya and severely restricted in many countries like Canada and the United States. Furthermore, it has been listed as potential endocrine disruptor by the German federal Agency, he added.

Source: Malu Cadelina Manar/Minda-News "Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest of life by the power of the spirit." - Aurobindo.

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