Workers Poisoned By "Registered" Pesticides
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Workers Poisoned By "Registered" Pesticides
Date:
Thu, 5 Dec 16:17:21 -0500
From:
Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State of California, Department of Pesticide
Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific Press Release
Embargoed until December 3rd, 2002
Groups To Commemorate "No Pesticides Use Day"
Communities in Sri Lanka, India , Malaysia, Bangladesh, Nepal, United Kingdom and New Zealand to hold activities highlighting negative impacts of pesticides on December 3
"Everyday 68,000 workers are being poisoned by pesticides. This is unacceptable and unconscionable and so "No Pesticides Use Day" is to publicise the suffering and damage that pesticides have caused to human health and the environment. On this day we would like to stress the fact that alternatives are possible and local farmers practising sustainable agriculture have proven without a doubt that we can feed the world without poisons", asserts Sarojeni V. Rengam, Executive Director of PAN AP in underscoring the stark reality that surrounds the usage of pesticides and its impacts as well as the intrinsic qualities of sustainable agriculture.
Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) first launched the "No Pesticide Use Day" in 1998, to protest the manufacture and use of pesticides worldwide. The day is being held in commemoration of the thousands who died, and the tens of thousands who still suffer and continue to die as a result of the 1984 Bhopal disaster. The tragedy of Bhopal is an example of an intense instance of chemical pesticide contamination for which its victims continue to suffer to this day. Bhopal has been called the worst commercial industrial disaster in history - but not the last. Around the world the ongoing manufacture, distribution, and use of chemical pesticides continues to wreck devastating afflictions on people and the environment.
A series of activities in protesting the manufacture and use of pesticides, and in support of "No Pesticides Use Day" will be held by various concerned groups. These activities have been formulated to create greater public awareness and to campaign against the transnational corporations which manufacture and promote these lethal chemicals.
Malaysia: Tenaganita (a workers organisation focussing on women) based in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia will be organising a half day programme to bring together more than 400 people from the plantations and farming communities. The programme to be held on December 8, aims to increase advocacy and to strengthen the campaign for the total and immediate ban of paraquat from the market, worldwide. Earlier this year, Tenaganita and PAN AP launched the book "Poisoned and Silenced - A Study of Pesticide Poisoning in the Plantations" and issued several calls including the call for an immediate ban on paraquat. A protracted campaign has been pursued to this effect by these organisations. In August, 2002, the Malaysian government finally announced the decision to ban paraquat.
As explained by Dr.Irene Fernandez of Tenaganita, "A continued programme of action will be undertaken by Tenaganita against pesticides use, particularly paraquat, in plantations and in the mobilisation of women sprayers who are most in danger of pesticide exposure and its dangers.
We hope to provide support for these workers who are moving the campaign forward at their work places". The programme is a way to inform the general public on the dangers of paraquat and garner support for the ban. As part of the preparations, Tenaganita also organised a half day workshop with 50 representatives from various community based organisations on paraquat poisoning and the current activities of its main manufacturer, Syngenta.
India: The aerial spraying of the insecticide, endosulfan in the plantations of Kasargod in the state of Kerala, and the resulting tragic deaths and intense suffering experienced by the people there was first highlighted worldwide on the No Pesticide Use Day of 1999. The devastation has reached catastrophic proportions. The survivors of the tragedy, along with the groups and individuals fighting against pesticides demand on the Fifth International Day of No Pesticide Use, this year, for a worldwide ban of endosulfan As Usha S. Jayakumar of Thanal (Thanal Conservation Action and Information Network) asserts, "The survivors in Kasargod villages are victims of criminal negligence and the indifference of the authorities provide enough reasons to demand a global ban of the pesticide and we demand the same." She continues with a call, "We ask the industry to withdraw endosulfan and the government to ban it altogether. We will work for the boycott of endosulfan. We join the international drive for safe food on this day and commit ourselves to Poison Free Food and Land. We believe that it is time to kick out this lethal pesticide from our world and start eliminating unwanted chemical pesticides from farming".
Thanal will be coordinating activities in the states of Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Karnataka. In the villages of Andhra Pradesh, there will be a cultural group advocating farmers against the use of pesticides, publications and distribution of pamphlets in the Telugu language. There will also be an organisation of a rally in the town of Warangal and a banner campaign demanding no pesticide use and a ban of endosulfan.
Addressing the situation in Warangal, Narasimha Reddy of CRE (Centre for Resource Education, Hyderabad stresses that "The links between deaths and pesticides are proven and visible. We declare our support to the affected global communities and join the struggle to declare poison free land and food".
In Kerala, on December 3, Women from Self-Help Groups will hold a programme for the declaration of "Land and Food Free of Poisons". The six month old demonstration plot of the groups will be declared as the Community School for poison free vegetable farming. The meeting will also declare that the village is banning endosulfan and also forbidding entry of other pesticides. The gathering will declare that the fundamental right of the community is to protect the land and food free of poisons, thus joining the world in remembering Bhopal and the painful lives of the survivors and to declare solidarity with other groups and individuals.
Kavitha Kuruganthi of CAPE (Community Action for Pesticide Elimination) maintains that "The unfortunate situation of the survivors of Bhopal, Kasargod and Warangal is a clear demonstration of valuable lives made miserable by corporate and governmental irresponsibility and this needs to be undone. We demand that justice be restored to the people".
The Self-Employed Women's Association (SEWA) will meet at Thiruvananthapuram to prepare the way forward in achieving poison free land and food. The programme includes a seminar "Invisible Violence on Women - Chemical Pesticides - Silent Actors" by Thanal followed by films and group discussions. A public meeting for the fisher folks and the local population at Vizhinjam will follow this. Film shows and an awareness talk will be part of the programme. Poster's demanding the ban of Endosulfan will be distributed together with a booklet on pesticides and health in the Malayalam language to commemorate the day.
The PREPARE Network's activities of Tamilnadu, will include picketing in the Matale district with the slogan "No Pesticides" and the organisation of a seminar with the theme "Globalisation - Food Security and Profiting from Poisonous Pesticides and Health". Speakers will consist of officials from the Pesticide Registrar Office, the Health Education Bureau, a woman lawyer and activist, and a resource person specializing in globalisation.
Nepal: ANPA (All Nepal Peasant Association) will organize a workshop on Awareness Building Against Agrochemicals. It is to educate local activists from various parts of the country on the effects and impacts of agrochemicals on health and the environment.
Bangladesh: UBINIG (Policy Research Centre for Development Alternatives), an organization regularly involved in anti-pesticide campaigns will organise a picket by farmers and activists with the message "No More Pesticides" on December 3. Farida Akhter of UBINIG asserts that "Pesticides are killers and there should be absolutely no se of pesticides. It is "silent suicide" and "silent murder". It is genocide without bloodshed. We have no option but to resist the use of such killing". They also coordinate a large farmer's group which practices and advocates sustainable agriculture
New Zealand: The city of Auckland is in the midst of a second round of aerial spraying to eradicate the Painted Apple Moth. Every 3 weeks, approximately 140,000 people are sprayed with the product Foray 48B which consists mostly of a mixture of unknown chemicals, with a small amount of the active ingredient Bacillus thuringiensis kurstaki, a soil bacterium and almost certainly an endocrine disrupting compound in the formula (nonyl phenyl ethoxylate).
About 100 families are evacuated each spray day because they become progressively ill due to the spraying. The government still insists that the spray is safe and refuses to let the community know what chemicals they are being exposed to. Hence there is a very strong call from the community for "right-to-know" legislation. There is also immense community anger that people are being made sick for the benefit of private forestry interest - the main concern about the moth's is that it might damage pine plantations, most of which belong to corporations.
Dr. Meriel Watts, spokesperson for Pesticide Action Network, New Zealand who will be issuing a press release for December 3 entitled "Stop Aerial Spraying of Urban Populations" states that "It is not acceptable that people's health should be sacrificed on the altar of commercial profit through mass spraying of pesticides. Many, many people have been made sick by the aerial spraying of Foray 48b over Auckland City, so that commercial interests can profit. We learn nothing from the tragedy of Bhopal until we learn to treat people with respect and find a different way to manage our pests." The call to stop aerial spraying of urban populations is expected to be taken up by many community groups. There have been a number of rallies and protests over the spraying in the last two months and these will continue as long as the spraying does.
Sri Lanka: Chandra Hewagallage of CEC (Community Education Center), an NGO involved in sustainable agriculture and environmental programmes through farmer, women and youth associations reminds us that, "Pesticides are not only killing you and me slowly but are also destroying the regenerative wealth of the environment".
United Kingdom: Pesticide Action Network- United Kingdom organised a major conference on November 26, entitled "The Pesticide Challenge-A Conference to Promote Safer Pest Management. With over 100 participants, it included regulators, farming organisations, supermarket/food importers, NGO's and an international contingent and addressed a wide range of issues such as the need for safer pest management and scope for non-chemical control, environmental and health imperatives, registration constraints in developing countries and the search for safer alternatives. It was followed by two workshops on November 27, one of which focused on strategic planning for UK/European NGOs, and the other for international participants -Tanzania, Vietnam, Zimbabwe and Senegal.
At the conference, PAN UK pre-launched their new publication, "Silent Invaders: Pesticides, Livelihoods and Women's Health". A copy was presented to the Minister of the Environment, Michael Meacher. The book, will be officially launched on 3 December. It contains papers from over 40 authors, many of whom are affiliated to PAN, and will include a paper by Sarojeni V. Rengam of PAN AP and will cover views from the field-pesticides vs. people; the science of pesticide exposure and health; a precautionary approach; taking action.
Around the world, pesticide use has permeated even the remotest village. In the South, the availability of highly toxic pesticides, lack of information and knowledge of their hazards, aggressive marketing by industry as well as poverty, illiteracy and lack of health facilities in the rural area's ensure that pesticides are a major cause of poisoning in farming communities. The goal of the campaign is not only to reveal the human and environmental hazards of chemical pesticides but also to stress that pesticide use is unnecessary in food production.
While most pesticide-related deaths occur in the South, pesticides also pose serious problems in industrialised countries. In both rich and poor countries, the effects of pesticide poisoning are suffered disproportionately by poor and disadvantaged people. Children are particularly vulnerable to pesticide exposure.
The manufacture, distribution and usage of chemical pesticides have for years had devastating impacts on people and the environment. Every year, about 3 million people are poisoned around the world and 200,000 die from pesticide use. Beyond these reported acute cases of pesticide poisoning, even more worrying are the chronic long term effects such as cancers. There has also been increasing evidence and concern over pesticides that mimic natural hormones (known as endocrine disruptors), possibly causing a wide variety of adverse effects- not only on specific body organs and systems but also on the endocrine systems which include reduction in male sperm count and undescended testes as well as increasing incidences of breast cancer.
Background Information:
In the first few minutes of December 3, 1984, Union Carbide's pesticide-manufacturing plant in Bhopal, India spewed forth a lethal cloud of methyl isocyanate (an extremely toxic chemical used in the manufacture of Sevin - a very potent pesticide at the time) into the air- killing between 16,000 to 30,000 people and leaving more than a half a million people horribly injured. People still die from their gruesome chemical injuries today.
For years, the Bhopal survivors' organisations have urged Union Carbide to release precise details of the chemicals released during the accident and the results of tests conducted by Union Carbide to further assess the effects of methyl isocyanate on animals. This information has been withheld by Union Carbide because the company claims it is 'confidential business information'. However, such data is necessary to enable effective treatment of those who remain ill as a result of the tragedy.
The Bhopal tragedy exposed the negligence and culpability of transnational corporations. The Union Carbide Corporation accepted 'moral responsibility' for the indiscriminate genocide, but denied and evaded any other kind of responsibility. While it eventually agreed to pay $470 million in compensation, for most victims it was not even enough to pay their medical bills. Since the tragedy, Union Carbide has closed and abandoned its Bhopal plant which produced pesticides for use in cotton production but has refused to clean up the substantial pollution of water and soil that it caused. It has also forsaken the estimated 140,000 survivors who still suffer from a range of diseases linked to exposure to the gas that leaked from the site. As the years pass, the harmful health and environmental effects attributable to the Bhopal disaster grow worse as increasing impacts are discovered.
Although no criminal verdicts have been issued in the Bhopal case, Union Carbide made a settlement to the Indian Government for US$470 million in 1989. To date, individual settlements have been in the range of US$3300.00 for the loss of life and US$800.00 for permanent disability. Although Union Carbide has abandoned the Bhopal plant, it has not cleansed its legacy of extensive soil and water pollution.
Although criminal cases against Union Carbide are still pending in the Bhopal district court, criminal proceedings against Union Carbide are difficult to enforce legally because, even as the accused refuse to appear in Court, Union Carbide no longer has any assets in India1.
On August 4, 1999, the Dow Chemical Company announced that it would acquire Union Carbide Corporation, creating then, the world's second largest chemical company after the Du Pont Corporation. Dow Chemical gained notoriety in the 1960's as one of the makers of the herbicide known as "Agent Orange", used as a defoliant in the American involvement of the Vietnam War. However, Dow's $10 billion acquisition of Union Carbide opened the possibility of enforcing criminal liability against the corporation as Dow has four subsidiaries and substantial assets in India.
It is believed that an intensified campaign by the Bhopal survivors and their international supporters to hold Dow liable for the crimes of Union Carbide has caused Dow's insecurity and hence their pressure on the Government of India to effectively close the files1. Today, news of the merger and its consequences which demonstrated gross indifference to human suffering and environmental pollution, still evokes protests from the survivors of the disaster.
A spokesperson for the Bhopal disaster victim's organisations said "Dow Chemicals has made a serious mistake if it thinks that the disappearance of the Union Carbide name will bring the Bhopal issue to a close. Dow will inherit all of Union Carbide's liabilities and responsibilities. Dow needs to know that Bhopal gas victims will never give up their fight for justice and fair compensation.
1 Source: Press release dated 17 July, 2002-"Brutal twist in Bhopal tale: Is this corporate accountability? asks Jagger For further information please contact: Indra Sinha Bhopal Medical Appeal Email: indra.sinha@virgin.net
Or Tim Edward Bhopal Justice Campaign, UK Email: timedwards@hotmail.com
For more information please contact:
Rudhrapathy Vijayavale
PAN AP (Pesticide Action Network-Asia and the Pacific)
P.O. Box 1170,10850 Penang, Malaysia
Tel: 604-6570271/6560381
Fax: 604-6577445
Email: panap@panap.net
Web: www.panap.net
Dr. Irene Fernandez
11th. Floor, Wisma Yakin,
Jalan Mesjid India,
501000 Kuala Lumpur,
Malaysia
Tel: 603-26913691/26913681
Fax: 603-26913681
Email: tnita@hotmail.com
Usha Jayakumar/Narasimha Reddy/Kavitha Kuruganthi
Thanal Conservation & Information Network
P.O. Box No. 815, Kawdiar, Kerala
PIN 695 003 India
Tel/Fax: 91471-311896
Mobile: 98471-89168
Email: thanal@vsnl.com
ANPA (All Nepal Peasant Network)
Madan Nagar
Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel: 977-1-241523
Fax: 977-1-278082
Email: anpa@mail.com.np
Farida Akhter
UBINIG
5/3 Barabo Mahanpur
Ring Road, Shaymoli,
Dhaka 1207 Bangladesh
Email: ubinig@citechco.net
Dr. Meriel Watts
c/o Pesticide Action Network
Aotearoa, New Zealand
P.O. Box 46-076
Herne Bay
Auckland, New Zealand
Email: m.watts@organicnz.pl.net
Chandra Hewagallage
Community Education Centre
No. 117, Talahena
Malabe, Sri Lanka
Tel: 94-1-789459
Fax: 94-1-790777
Email: cec@lankanet.jca.apc.org
cec@sltnet.lk
________________________
People's Caravan 2000
This information service is facilitated by PAN AP
Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific
P.O. Box 1170, 10850, Penang, Malaysia.
Tel: (604) 657 0271/ 656 0381 Fax (604) 657 7445
E-mail: pcaravan@tm.net.my / panap@panap.net
Webpage: www.poptel.org.uk/panap/caravan.htm
>>>>>>>>
Jayakumar C.
Thanal
L-14 ,Jawahar Nagar , Kawdiar P.O.
Thiruvananthapuram , Kerala, India.
Pin 695003
Tel / Fax:++91-471-311896
Email: thanal@vsnl.com
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