toxicity - pesticides, herbicides and insecticides - Blackherbals.com

Continued from page 69 - South Africa: DevelopingGuidelines for 'Roundup' in South Africawork. Much remains to be done, as the use of glyphosatein the Eastern Cape continues to be heavy. The provincialgovernment has been cooperating with Monsanto since2005, when the companybegan providing farmers withGM seed and the Roundup regimen. "One result is thatthe farmers are using too much Roundup," said Paul."They believe that 'If some is good, more is better.' Theyare also using more no-till farming, which requires lots ofherbicide. Ours is still the only field work beingconducted on this issue, and we have the responsibility tocommunicate what we have found."http://allafrica.com/stories/201301240929.html☻☻☻☻☻Zimbabwe: ParaquatHerbicide Faces Ban18 January 2013The HeraldZIMBABWE will work towards exhausting all stocks ofthe paraquat herbicide in line with China's researchfindings that the chemical is highly toxic and thereforeunsuitable for continued use.Principal director in the Department of Research andSpecialist Services, Mrs Danisile Hikwa, said althoughChina's research findings had not been officiallycommunicated to all countries, it was critical for thecountry to take a cue and phase the chemical out.The Chinese government announced that the countrywould halt all production and use of liquid paraquat by2016 after Chinese researcher Sun Jing and othermembers of the Pesticide Eco-Alternatives Centre inChina learned that local farmers were mysteriouslyfalling ill and dying from effects of the chemical.Sun suspected this had something to do with theherbicide paraquat that farmers were using. The farmershad no idea what a deadly chemical they were handlingevery day.Paraquat is an acutely toxic weed killer. The chemicaldestroys green plant tissue on contact and is also toxic toanimals. Direct contact on the skin causes death. Longtermexposure can result in Parkinson's disease and skincancer.China is the world's largest producer of paraquat,manufacturing 100 000 tonnes per year. Sun and hercolleagues researched the chemical. "If there isinformation like that coming from China, it will soon beshared so that we look for alternative chemicals to use inweed control without endangering the lives of thefarmers, biodiversity and other plants. Paraquat is not aselective herbicide and kills everything in its path oncontact."It should not be a problem when it is phased out. Wewill just look for alternatives. There are conventionsguiding the use of chemicals and Zimbabwe has ratifiedsome of them so we have to conform.The Rotterdam Convention for instance, which regulatesthe trade of chemicals and the Stockholm Convention thatis concerned with the disposal of chemicals are some ofthe conventions to which Zimbabwe is a signatory andhas to abide," said Mrs Hikwa.She said it was now the prerogative of different countrieseither to stop the use of the chemical at once or to phaseit out gradually. "There are stocks of the chemical in thecustody of farmers out there and it will take time for allof them to be exhausted so we shall see how it goesbefore we can even think of setting our own deadline forthe total ban of the chemical," she said.Mrs Hikwa said paraquat was part of the chemicals thatbear the purple label and were dangerous andtraditionally not allowed to be handled by smallholderfarmers without supervision from trained personnel.Other chemicals the country banned because of their hightoxicity include methylbromide and dichloro-diphenyltrichloroethane(DDT). Mrs Hikwa's comments come inthe wake of reports that several years ago, GlobalGreengrants Fund supported their work from thebeginning and sustained it over several years.http://allafrica.com/stories/201301180994.html☻☻☻☻☻Kenya: FAO Gives Sh42Million for Pest Control22 June 2013The StarThe Food and Agricultural Organisation will spend Sh42million to implement a pest management programmewith the Pests Control Products Board.FAO programme associate Stanley Kimereh said the twoyearfunding will improve the PCPB's laboratory capacityto analyse pesticides.Kimereh was speaking at the PCPB offices in Nairobiyesterday when he joined Israeli ambassador Gil Haskelon a courtesy call on the board's director Gladys Maina.Continued on page 7170-- Traditional African Clinic July 2013