Act needed to control import of chemicals - Minister Vitarana

GANNORUWA: "We have to be aware that pesticides are toxic substances and if they accumulate in the ground water, or in the soil or in the food chain, then they are going to have an impact on health. This is going to be in a continued process.

In addition to health consequences, both immediate and long-term, they have to be properly evaluated," said Professor Tissa Vitarana, Minister of Science and Technology at a workshop held recently at the Plant Genetics Resource Centre, Gannoruwa, on the impact of Pesticides on Water Catchments and Groundwater, organised by the Atomic Energy Authority.

The Minister said that there is a need for an Act to control the import of chemicals into the country. There were a number of banned pesticides which was being imported into the country, not as pesticides, but as chemicals.

The chemicals were being brought in bulk, but not being declared as pesticides. They were reconstituted, diluted and then the pesticide was used."

The Minister emphasized the necessity of covering all the loopholes that exist, if we want to effectively control this. It was mentioned that the Registrar of Pesticides is doing excellent work, though this issue is coming outside his purview.

"We have to realize the magnitude of the problem and like everything; there is a positive and a negative side."

Professor Vitarana said that Sri Lanka has one of the highest suicide levels in the world; "I think we have an extremely stressful society. One of the main agents being used to suicide are pesticide. Their ready availability, their quick and effective suicidal potential are all exploited in this context.

So we have to weigh all this in the actual situation which is confronting our country. Many of the chemicals that we identified and brought into the country were cancer producing chemicals.

So we have to do the necessary researchers to collect the data and to draw scientific conclusions. But this process should not take long. We have to have the monitoring mechanism in place.

We need to be able to evaluate the gravity of any situation that is arising so that as policy makers, we can take appropriate decisions, to protect our people".

The Minister emphasized the need of re-examining many of the reasons given for use of pesticides such as the fact that there is a shortage of food in the world. "There is no real shortage of food in the world - for instance, two years ago India had 60 million metric tons of grain in their food stores.

But off side those food stores were hungry and starving people as they did not have the money to purchase the food that was there.

The political parties there had made a very strong case, that food that was stored there to be given to these people in exchange for their labour. The unemployed starving people could have worked and taken in kind. But the government did not do that."

"Worldwide large subsidies are given in major countries for farmers not to produce food, so that prices can be maintained high. At the same time there are countries which have food stores and get rid of them annually by dumping the stocks of food into the sea.

"There is increasing population and unless we increase agricultural productivity, the danger of starvation will be a major factor. I think this is not correct," he said.

There is increased worldwide opinion that chemicals should not be used in agriculture. More people are shifting onto organically produced food and are prepared to pay much more for them.

"I think by shifting our attention to that type of agriculture, we would not only be helping our population from the point of view of our health and protecting our environment, but at the same time we would be opening up avenues for our agricultural producers.

There are producers of various vegetable foods who are shifting towards organic farming. They are getting very good prices even abroad."

He explained that he has participated in many funerals where young people have died of cancers and various other ailments, which could have been due to pesticides and chemicals, etc.

"We have to keep this in mind and to act quickly and collect meaningful information that will enable us to do early definite decisions."

Dr. Janitha A. Liyanage of University of Kelaniya, Dr. A. Mubarak of Industrial Technology Institute, Professor O.A. Illeperuma of University of Peradeniya, Dr. Josef Brodesser, International Atomic Energy Agency, Professor Oswin Perera, Atomic Energy Agency and Dr. Ananda P. Mallawawantantri of UNDP addressed the gathering.