MONOCULTURE AND AERIAL SPRAY

Prepared by IDIS,Inc

September 22, 2006

• Plantations are vast tracts of land devoted to one crop – monocultures or monocrop farms.

• Agribusiness or agricultural business – you make a business enterprise out of agriculture

• Agribusiness plantations – run by large local and foreign corporations

• Export-oriented -- targeting foreign market• Have been in Mindanao for decades• Recently (late 90s to 2000), plantations

started to expand rapidly – especially those devoted to pineapples and cavendish banana

• Why? Because of growing international demand and approach has become a national agenda

OVERVIEW

• Develop 2 million hectares into agribusiness lands to generate 2 million jobs

• Agribusiness is the quickest way of generating employment

• Out of 2 million hectares targeted, more than 1 million are in Mindanao

• Oil Palm Masterplan: 104,420 hectares for oil palm until 2010 (85% in Mindanao)

Medium-term Philippine Development Plan

Medium-term Philippine Development Plan

Generate 2Million jobs

Poverty reduction, Economic growth

Higher agricultural productivity, Exports

AGRIBUSINESS

Location Area (in hectares)

Central Mindanao Oil Palm 4,000 (Sun Star 11/04)

Compostela Valley 10,000 (Sun Star 10/28/04)

Saranggani 15,000 (Mindanao Insider 10/1/04)

South Cotabato T’boli 5,000 (Mindanao Insider 10/1/04)

Talomo-Lipadas 1,307 (DCWD, 2003)

Total 34,000*

Projected Expansion

Agribusiness plantations are literally and figuratively changing Mindanao’s landscape .

• Circumvents agrarian reform– Reversal of land access & control

under agrarian reform– Enhances & facilitates corporate

control over the country’s agricultural and food production systems

• Labor issues– Labor contracting only widely

practiced in plantation areas– Questionable contracts

Issues and Concerns

• Policy issues– DENR Administrative Order 2003-

30– New NCIP regulation on FPIC

Issues and Concerns

• Environmental costs– Heavy pesticide use threatens

drinking water sources -- groundwater and surface water

– Soil degradation– Soil erosion and sedimentation of

water– Flashfloods– Loss of biodiversity

Issues and Concerns

• Health and food safety costs– Pesticide poisoning in plantation

areas (Dr. Quijano study)– Food contamination – pesticide

found in fish sample in Tugbok

• Food security costs– Massive conversion of actual and

potential food production areas especially rice, corn, vegetable lands – Maragusan case

Issues and Concerns

HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT OF AERIAL SPRAYING

• Fungicides - collective name for pesticides/toxins designed to kill or inhibit growth of fungi that cause economic damage to crop or ornamental plants.

WHAT IS AERIAL SPRAYING?

• IT’S A FORM OF PESTICIDE APPLICATION USING SMALL AIRCRAFTS SUCH AS AIRPLANE OR HELICOPTER

Why aerial spray causes pesticides to drift farther than

boom spray?

4

to

5

m.

1.2 m

What is a Drift?

• It is the physical movement of a pesticide through air to any site other than that intended for application (off-target) – USEPA

Inevitably occurs whenever pesticides are applied but especially during and after aerial applications

HOW FAR CAN PESTICIDES DRIFT?

• A predictable percentage of spray will transport potentially as far as 2 or more miles (3.2 kms or more) – 1994 US EPA Ecological Effects Branch

• 80 km – in hilly terrain under windy conditions – a study in central Washington

• The drift varies from about 5% (under optimal-low wind conditions) to 60% (under more typical conditions) – The National Research Council in the US.

Is there enough buffer zone to protect people and water

resources?• None – not even the 20m as required

by law to protect rivers• No 30m buffer zone near residence

and schools• In Alaska, the current required buffers

to protect drinking water sources is 66 meters

• Proposed buffer zones by different concerned organizations is >1 mile around drinking water.

• Drift – pesticides being carried away from the target area by the wind or air

Volatilization – pesticides evaporating from soil, leaves, or surface waters. Fumes and vapor in air can move away from the site of application and be re-deposited on non-target vegetation or soil.

• Leaching – the movement of pesticides through soil due to water movement.

Means by which pesticides contaminate the environment

Soil

groundwater

air / clouds

water

Runoff – rainfall and watering can cause pesticides to wash off soil, plants, (pesticide-contaminated soil particles to be carried) into canals and waterways

Some fungicides and their

documented adverse effects

Propiconazole Bumper, Tilt 250 EC

Possibly carcinogenic/ cancer-causing; contains reproductive toxins

Active Ingredient

Brand Name

Documented health effects [1]

Azoxystrobin Bankit 250 EC

highly toxic- fish, inverte- brates; not used Canada

Biterthanol Baycor 300EC

Possible cause of birth defects; not allowed for use in US farms

Tridemorph Calixin 750 EC

Causes birth defects; not allowed for use in Canada, in the USA, banned in UK,

Continuation…

Thiopha-nate Methyl

Topsin M 70 WP

Very highly toxic to catfish; toxic to earthworms; causes damage to thyroid glands, producing hyperthyroidism

[1]Culled from United States Environmental Protection Agency; the Advisory Committee on Pesticides in UK; www.pesticideinfo.org; Pesticide News No. 48 June 2000; extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/maneb.htm; Gallagher & Mcwhirter, Chiquita Secrets Revealed, Cincinnatti Enquirer 3 May 1998; http://infoventures.com/e-hlth/[2] Chlorothalonil contains hexechlorobenzene and pentachlorobenzonitrile as manufacturing impurities. Hexachlorobenzene has been classified as a carcinogen, a mutagen and a reproductive hazard. http://infoventures.com/e-hlth/pesticide/chloroth.html

Mancozeb Dithane 448 FVondozeb Plus 80 WP

Carcinogenic; contains reproductive toxins; may cause birth defects; suspected to disrupt endocrine functions

Chlorotalonil[2] Daconil 720 F

Carcinogenic; highly toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates bio- accumulates in fish

Are there local studies that show the adverse effects of

fungicides to humans?

• Yes– Dr. Romy Quijano; Dr. Hernandez, et al– Dr. Lynn Panganiban (OIC-National

Poison Management and Control Center and Dr. N. Maramba (UP College of Medicine), et al

– Kalusugan Alang sa Bayan (KAABAY)

Results:(Drs. Quijano,Hernandez, et al)

• 11 out 24 individuals examined and water samples from hand-pump well (source of drinking water in the community) were positive for ETU – ethylenethiourea (metabolite of mancozeb)

• A spectrum of medical complaints and symptoms that is similar, if not identical to the symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning

• Occurrence of diseases atypical in quality – severe anemia in young males and blood dyscrasias

Panganiban L, Maramba NC, et al. Correlation between Blood Ethylenethiourea and Thyroid Gland Disorders among Banana Plantation Workers in the Philippines. Environmental Health

Perspectives. 2004; 112(1): 42-45.

• Results: more exposed workers higher ETU in the blood and have solitary nodules of bigger size than those non-exposed workers (organic farmers)

KAABAY.. .Results

• Many symptoms reported were similar to effects of pesticides on human health – respiratory illnesses, skin rashes, eye irritation, asthma

• A number of rare diseases such as cancer – lung, uterine, liver, brain, prostate and bone;

myoma, goiter

Our current economic accounting system does not include the cost to

human health and on the env’t…

• But there is now a growing awareness on this and a desire to rectify this mistake.

• And follow the Precautionary Principle• When there is reasonable grounds to

indicate potential harm to health & environment, precautionary action should be taken even if cause and effect relationship has not been established scientifically.

• A model example on this is the Province of Bukidnon which banned aerial spraying since 2001

• Another example also is the people of Baguio District, Davao City who did not allow aerial spraying to be conducted by banana plantations operating in their locality

Thyroid Cancer

STOP POISONING MORE PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENTBAN AERIAL SPRAY !