and Integrated Pest Management - part - usaid

LOOKING FOR'I11AILAND'S LOVE CANAL" 435
The Thai economy is based on private enterprise, with more than 80% of all
pesticides sold through commercial channels. The profit motivation in private
business tends to keep pesticide imports (and sales) in balance with, or even
short of demand. Efficiency in forecasting import requirements and cost-reducing
techniques for pesticides formulation are essential. Consequently, excessive
stocks of pesticides are unlikely to exist in the private sector.
According to Thai law, stocks of banned pesticides may be sold until the
stocks are used up, with no time limit. Further, there does not seem to be strict
enforcement of laws regulating the quality of pesticide products in the
marketplace, so that obsolete, substandard and even w, ter-damaged products may
be repackaged and sold. Due to these reasons, ilough they may be undesirable,
"Love Canal"-like problems due to product ob::olescence or substandard
formulations have thus far lot occurred around Bangkok.
Although there are environmental regulations (NEB 1986) requiring that
obsolete pesticide stocks and used pesticide containers be destroyed by state-ofthe-art
technology, these regulations are rarely enforced. Drum refurbishing
appeals to be a thriving business. Therefore, the disposal of large steel pesticide
drums may not be a serious problem from the potential waste site point of view.
The lack of a program for the disposal of used plastic and glass containers,
however, does pose a potential health problem which may be resolved by the
imposition of cash container deposits.
At the present time, there is no designated hazardous waste site in Thailand,
although there are plans underway for such a waste site to be established in
Thonburi, outside Bangkok. Until this is established, along with stronger
legislation and strict enforcement, a person or company wanting to get rid of
obsolete pesticides will likely bury or dispose of them on private land. As ;
res;alt, there may be many-small potential "Love Canals" scattered throughout
Thailand.
The small-scale farmer in Thailand usually purchases minimum quantities
(100 ml to 1 liter) of the cheapest pesticide recommended by the dealer, and
commonly will spray a mixture of several chemicals to achieve a quick pest
"knockdown" (Jensen 1986). Monocrotophos, carbofuran and methyl parathion,
considered highly hazardous by the World Health Organization (1984), are
commonly used in Thailand. The on-farm storage of these chemicals is usually
improper, often with pesticides within easy reach of young children, thus posing
a potential health problem. Disposal of the glass, plastic and metal containers is
usually done by selling them to a midd!eman, who in turn sells them for
recycling.
CONCLUSIONS
Based on a systematic search of pesticide distribution points and discussions
with Thai government and donor agencies, we concluded that large quantities of
abandoned or obsolete pesticides thus far do not exist in the Bangkok
metropolitan area, and are unlikely to exist in other parts of Thailand. Although
the survey period was of short duration, we do not believe that we have failed to
find such abandoned pesticide stocks if they did exist. We also concluded that the