PESTICIDE ACTION NETWORK ASIA AND THE PACIFIC

Workshop on Development of Legal and Institutional Infrastructure Chemicals - (SAICM) Implementation,

Bangkok, 23-25 May, 2007

OUR VISION

“Our vision is a society that is truly democratic, equal, just, culturally diverse, and based on food sovereignty, gender justice and environmental sustainability.”

Represented in

• 15 countries in Asia and the Pacific

• 110 network partners

• 300 participants

PAN ASIA AND THE PACIFIC Regional Network

Pesticides are used in conditions of poverty

• Many susceptible workers: pregnant women, very young / old

workers, unhealthy workers, low literacy rates

• Importance of PPE: Awareness? Availability? Affordability?

Wearability?

• No washing facilities in field; limited household washing

facilities Photo: Catherina Wesseling, Costa Rica

Photo: Francois Meienberg, Pakistan

Typical conditions of use• Poor (no) spray equipment; nozzles cleared by blowing

• Many pesticide users know that pesticides are hazardous (product stewardship) but no major breakthrough in changing behavior and practices

• Registration of pesticides in developing countries: shortage of regulators and inspectors; check data rather than carry out risk evaluation

• Product quality, repackaging, adulteration, sales strategies

• Pesticides are valuable: No lockable storage facilities; storage in house

• Poor product information: pesticides for one crop (e.g. cotton) used on others (e.g. cowpea)

• Self medication – Clinics and hospitals remote; first aid training limited

Mixing and Spraying of Pesticides

Picture from Sumatra, Indonesia

Repackaged pesticides

•

Improper Disposal of Pesticide Containers

Community Monitoring

• PAN works to build stronger linkages with affected communities and people’s movements to strengthen their struggle

• CPAM - PAN’s community monitoring methodologies are pioneering a community documentation, action and organising. Tool for community support and action.

• Documenting and recording of poisoning incidents has increased

Victim of Pesticide Poisoning that caused

Huge Lump on the Throat

Community Monitoring to enhance:Increase level of information and technical capacity on pesticides at local levelTrained women and local leadersInformation gathering Collaboration – community & health groups, NGOs/CSOs and “scientists”

Monitoring and Collection of Data:•Identification of pesticides problems Assist in building awareness farmers, agricultural workers, rural women Feed into local/national interventions - campaigns, policy, IPM/Sustainable agriculture

National/International Level Action

Community Empowerment Through Community Based Pesticide

Monitoring

Community monitoring• Ban of paraquat in

Malaysia• Ban of endosulfan in

Kerala, India• Kamukaan pressure on

banana plantation and alternative livelihoods

• Eloor community near a DDT plant in Kerala

• Ongoing documentation of pesticide problems in 8 countries in Asia and more are being planned

Barren Village of Kamukaan, Philippines

Pesticide Sprayer With a Knapsack Equipment

Case study: Paraquat: Threats to health

• Paraquat is highly acutely toxic & enters the body mainly by swallowing, or through damaged skin, but may also be inhaled

• 1 teaspoon of concentrated paraquat can result in death

• Death is by respiratory failure & may occur within a few days after poisoning or as long as a month later

• There is no antidote!

• Paraquat damages the lungs, heart, kidneys, adrenal glands, central nervous system, liver, muscles & spleen, causing multi-organ failure

• Severe acute & long-term health problems include severe dermatitis, second degree burns, nosebleeds, rapid heart rate, kidney failure, & respiratory failure

• Some chronic effects identified include: developmental & reproductive effects; links to skin cancer & Parkinson’s disease

•Women are the major workforce on plantations in Malaysia - around 30,000 women workers•They routinely mix, handle & spray pesticides, & are poisoned by pesticides (mostly herbicides) they spray daily•Women have suffered a myriad of serious acute & chronic health effects

Problems in MalaysiaProblems in Malaysia

Women Sprayers in the Estates

Mixing the Pesticides with the Bare Hands

Community Based Pesticides Monitoring

“Poisoned and Silenced” launched in 2001, identified paraquat as a main offender in palm oil plantations, & recommendations made for it to be banned along with all WHO Class 1 pesticides

But since ban, Syngenta andMPOA has undertaken various activities to overturn the ban Malaysian Pesticides Board stands firm to ban. The industry approaches & appeals to the highest levels of political leadership

Involvement of the Malaysian National Poisons Centre in the report, & activities by Tenaganita & PAN AP Malaysian Pesticide Board also concerned about the pesticideParaquat banned in Malaysia in August 2002

1999- 2001 - PAN AP & Tenaganita (Women’s Force) work with women plantation workers on community based pesticides monitoring to assess health impacts

Malaysian Ban Under Threat•April 15, 2005 - Malaysian govt plan to reconsider paraquat ban •Agriculture & Agro-Based Industries Ministry decides on review after “presentations” made by small-holders & “key” industry players•April 20, 2005 - PAN AP, Tenaganita & over 20 women plantation workers go to Malaysian Parliament to lobby MPs & Press Conference held•"We will struggle and continue our fight to keep the ban on paraquat!” states Nagamah, women plantation workers leader•Minister responds, decision on lifting ban left to Pesticides board •PAN AP launches world-wide appeal to Malaysian Government to keep paraquat ban • A further extension of paraquat’s use till 2007 is announced.

Case study: Endosulfan in Kerala• In 1979, a farmer in Kasargod realised that endosulfan could have caused the deformed limbs and stunted growth of his 3 calves and alerted the village. •The Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) in the 1970s had started aerial spraying of pesticides particularly endosulfan to control tea mosquito bugs. •In 1994 KSSP undertook a study that showed that disability rate of people in the area was 73% higher than overall disability rates for the entire state• In 1997, a local medical doctor found large number of unusual diseases among his patients and wrote to the Indian Medical Association.•As the health complaints mounted, a local agricultural assistant found her son was depressed and her daughter was suffering hormonal problems and together with others appealed before the local court for a stay on aerial spray. The court issued a stay order.•Thanal and SEEK separately undertook two fact finding mission reported incidence of similar diseases in the villages. This was followed by a long-term monitoring of the area in 1999.

Mentally and Physically Challenged Children of Kasargod

Shruti was Born with Three Deformed Limbs

Kasargod: a long struggle for justice

• In 2000, the Government school also recorded in its internal report that most students coming from the areas around the plantation were observed to be mentally and physically deficient compared to students coming from other areas.

• In October 2000, a local court ordered the permanent prohibition of use of any insecticide by air in the Periya plantation area.

• CSE from New Delhi undertook laboratory analysis of blood, water and other samples and the analysis showed the presence of endosulfan.

• Studies and counter studies – PCK had a private lab to analyze samples but they did not find any elevated endosulfan levels

• The Kerala Agriculture University asked an expert committee to investigate and found that even though there were problems related to nervous system in some families that there is no evidence to show endosulfan as the cause

• Kerala than lifted the ban in 2002• A large-scale epidemiology study in the area started in 2001 by the

National Institute of Medical Research found “high prevalence of nuero-behavioural disorders, congenital malformation in female children and abnormalities related to the male reproductive system had no other cause but the continuous aerial spraying of endosulfan.”

• 2003, endosulfan spraying was permanently stopped following the directions of the Kerala High Court, based on the precautionary principle.

• The Chief Minister of the state decided to uphold the ban on endosulfan in 2004 and in 2006 the Chief Minister of Kerala, Mr V S Achutanandan provided compensation to the survivors.

PAN’s Policy Work in the UN

• Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent (PIC) on Certain Hazardous Chemicals in International Trade

• Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs):

• International Code of Conduct on the distribution and Use of pesticides

• Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety • The Strategic Approach to International

Chemicals Management (SAICM)

AlternativesAdvancing Agroecological strategies of agricultural production, their success in reducing health and environmental harm while maintaining yields, and related economic benefits

PAN focuses on: •Rice and ecological agriculture•Implementation of Farmer Field Schools IPM •Agroecological promotion in other crops•Commodity supply chains eg. Palm oil (RSPO)•Alternatives to pesticide in homes

Sustainable (Ecological) Agriculture: successful and ensures food security

Gita Pertiwi and Field outreach to 10,000 families in Indonesia• 20,000 farmers practising LIESA and 50,000 farmers involved in “Save our Rice Campaign with Thanal in India•Alternative Agriculture network in Thailand (AAN)•SIBAT and SEARICE in the Philippines•SHISUK’s rice-fish cultivation a model for poverty alleviation

Save Our Rice Campaign• Five Pillars of Rice Wisdom

- Food sovereignty

- Safe Food

- Culture

- Biodiversity based Ecological Agriculture

- Community Wisdom

Role of civil society• Creating awareness• Supporting local struggles• Building capacity to participate and

asserting rights of people through:- Strengthen local communities technical

capacities- Providing technical support- Assisting documentation and highlighting

the problems- Alerting public and relevant agencies and

organisations- Providing recommendations- Watchdog role• Providing alternatives where possible

BARRIERS to CSO participation:THE LACK OF:• Democratic spaces -- mechanisms to

ensure participation and consultation• Political will to ensure participation• Freedom of information• Press Freedom • Complex relationships with the

industry including political support to chemical industry

• Accountability and • Transparency (right to know)

• Confrontation • Criminalisation –

In April, 1993, Hoechst slapped a law suit on Dr. Romy Quijano, a toxicologist and a pesticides and human rights activist, for criticising a Hoechst product, Thiodan (endosulfan).

• Legal suits –• Madhumita Dutta ,an environmental activist - received legal

summons to appear before a court in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh for publishing an investigation on acute pesticide poisoning in the district. The case filed by the pesticide industry association, Crop Care Federation.

Systematic synergies/collaboration with other regional and international networks• IPEN (International POPs Elimination Network)

• GAIA

• PCFS – People’s Coalition on Food Sovereignty

• APC – Asian Peasants Coalition

• CAWI – Coalition of Agricultural Workers

• Committee of Women Workers (CAW)

THANK YOU

www.panap.net