Asian plantation workers face weedkiller health threat

February 2, 2009

Sun Feb 1, 2009 7:47pm EST

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By Tan Ee Lyn

HONG KONG (Reuters) - Malaysian plantation worker Rajam Murugasu became blind in one eye after she slipped and accidentally sprayed the weedkiller paraquat in her face.

"It was raining. I fell down and the chemical shot straight into my eye," said Murugasu, a 40-year-old mother of four. "I was in and out of hospital for a whole year," she told Reuters at Teluk Intan town in northwestern Malaysia.

Paraquat, a herbicide that protects crop yields by killing weeds that compete for water, nutrients, and light, is banned in the European Union and restricted to licensed users in the United States, New Zealand and parts of Latin America.

Yet it is widely used in China, India, the Philippines as well as Malaysia, where the government reversed a ban in 2006 after growers demanded they be allowed to use the cheap herbicide.

"Paraquat has serious implications for one's health and there is no antidote. It is not right for a human to be handling it," said Irene Fernandez of Tenaganita, a rights group in Malaysia.

Paraquat, which contains quaternary ammonium compound, is classified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as moderately hazardous for acute toxicity. Other herbicides are less toxic. It accounts for up to 70 percent of the chemicals used to fight weeds at plantations in Malaysia, activists say.

"There are less harmful weed killers around and we should get rid of such toxic pesticides," said Fernandez.

"It is banned in all of the EU, so why are people in Asia putting up with this? Why such double standards? Are our lives of less value than theirs?"

Swiss paraquat manufacturer Syngenta insists the herbicide is safe and that eye protectors are required only when the weedkiller is being mixed and loaded into sprayers.

In an email reply to questions from Reuters, Syngenta said it had comprehensive data showing paraquat was safe to use.

On plantations in Malaysia, workers carry canisters of paraquat on their backs, spraying up to four gallons a day.

The wind blows the chemical into the workers' faces and leaky canisters mean their feet and clothes get soaked with the chemical, human rights activists say.

Paraquat is absorbed through the skin and rights groups say workers who are exposed to it suffer from illnesses that range from rashes and nail loss to respiratory and kidney diseases.

There were 256 pesticide and herbicide poisoning cases in Malaysia in 1997; 183 cases in 1998; 266 cases in 1999 and 339 cases in 2000, according to a 1997-2000 study by the ministry of health. It found that the most common pesticide poisoning cases were due to paraquat.

Paraquat is widely used across Africa, Asia and Latin America. Rights groups say poisonings and fatalities regularly occur, although they have no detailed figures. Continued...

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