Farmers worry over agrochemical control regulations

By Pratch Rujivanarom 
The Nation

 

File photo

 

FARMER GROUPS expressed their concern that agrochemical control measures proposed in the new ministerial regulation will turn them into criminals, as they will be forbidden from spraying herbicides on their farms without proper training.
 

They were conveying their apprehensions yesterday at a public hearing arranged by the Agriculture Department on the draft of the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry regulation to enforce tighter controls on the use of paraquat, chlorpyrifos and glyphosate.

 

The group, who support the free use of these three farm chemicals, said the new control measures were too strong and impractical hence they should be lifted entirely or at the least their enforcement delayed.

 

Meanwhile, opponents of the use of paraquat, chlorpyrifos and glyphosate revealed that they had been left out of the public hearing. They said the Agriculture Department had not formally invited them to the forum and they were yet to see the ministerial regulation draft and read the new agrochemical control measures.

 

Sukan Sangwanna, the secretary-general of the Federation of Safe Agriculture that opposes tighter controls, said the new regulation contained many unrealistic agrochemical control measures. For instance the users of paraquat, chlorpyrifos and glyphosate will have to get safety training and acquire the certificate within 90 days of the official announcement of the new regulation.

 

“This is very big problem for us, as there are more than 5 million farmers and over 200,000 herbicide and pesticide sprayers nationwide, so there is no way that the authorities will be able to train all these people within a very short period of 90 days,” Sukan said.

 

“And if they do not get the certification in time, the farmers may be arrested and punished just for spraying these three chemicals on their farm.”

 

He also pointed out that even before tighter control on paraquat, chlorpyrifos and glyphosate is enforced, the prices of these common herbicides and pesticides had already spiked. He urged the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to find a way to keep the cost of these farm chemicals affordable for poor farmers.

 

He said his organisation and other farmer groups were now gathering comments on the ministerial regulation draft and would submit them directly to the Hazardous Substance Committee to let the committee reconsider the entire agrochemical control measures. He urged that they allow free use of these chemicals.

 

Meanwhile, BioThai Foundation director Withoon Lienchamroon said his organisation had not had a chance to participate in the public hearing on the new ministerial regulation draft, as the Agriculture Department had not invited his or other organisations that were opposed to the use of the hazardous farm chemicals.

 

“Despite BioThai Foundation being one of the stakeholders on this issue, as we have been actively campaigning to ban paraquat and chlorpyrifos and limit the use of glyphosate from the beginning, we were not invited to this public hearing,” Withoon said.

 

“This shows a serious lack of transparency in the ministerial regulation draft. The Agriculture Department should have invited all stakeholders to consider the controlling measures for these hazardous farm chemicals together.”

 

Nevertheless, he insisted that though the regulations on the use and contribution of these three farm chemicals are becoming stricter, they are still not enough to prevent adverse impacts to the environment and public health.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30357190

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2018-10-26

 

38 minutes ago, webfact said:

“This is very big problem for us, as there are more than 5 million farmers and over 200,000 herbicide and pesticide sprayers nationwide, so there is no way that the authorities will be able to train all these people within a very short period of 90 days,” Sukan said.

The thai government also certified 50.000 electricians in a day iirc....so they can easy train and certify the sprayers as well me thinks.

 

As soon as it's about safety the Thai have issues with it....maybe they prefer to have their export banned by the rest of the world?

 

And the safety-rules are also to protect the farmers themselves since they have no idea at all what they're doing...

Might be much more practical and healthier, in the long run, to find alternatives to the poisons that most employ regularly. 

Recent cancer rates for those living in Thailand have skyrocketed among the early middle aged (30 - 40). I have talked with 4 top doctors in Thailand about this at Bumrungrad, BNH and Samitivej.

 

I hate to say this but by living in Thailand, we are significantly increasing our cancer risks and it's not surprising that the Thai attitude to public food safety contributes to this risk.

13 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

Recent cancer rates for those living in Thailand have skyrocketed among the early middle aged (30 - 40). I have talked with 4 top doctors in Thailand about this at Bumrungrad, BNH and Samitivej.

 

I hate to say this but by living in Thailand, we are significantly increasing our cancer risks and it's not surprising that the Thai attitude to public food safety contributes to this risk.

Can you post a link/proof of this please, I think something other than hearsay is required to support what you've written, it is after all an extremely important claim.

7 minutes ago, simoh1490 said:

Can you post a link/proof of this please, I think something other than hearsay is required to support what you've written, it is after all an extremely important claim.

You are smart for your skepticism, but not everything in this world is available via link.

 

This is particularly true for a) a country where the ability to accurately track and aggregate data is poor, b) almost nothing of any worth is available online and c) the problem is evolving as we sit here and type.

 

If you care about this topic, I kindly suggest you find a reputable Thai doctor, and go and talk to him. Or, alternatively, you can speak to one of the Thai cancer research institutes re same.

 

11 minutes ago, Fex Bluse said:

You are smart for your skepticism, but not everything in this world is available via link.

 

This is particularly true for a) a country where the ability to accurately track and aggregate data is poor, b) almost nothing of any worth is available online and c) the problem is evolving as we sit here and type.

 

If you care about this topic, find a reputable Thai doctor, and go and talk to him.

 

The most recent piece of reliable data on this subject that I have seen is dated 2012 and this is attached, that concluded that rates for all cancers had fallen but were projected to increase based on population growth: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/9/8/108/pdf

 

 

2 hours ago, webfact said:

as they will be forbidden from spraying herbicides on their farms without proper training.

the height of ignorance; "we don't want to know what is in it, we don't want to know how to use it or it's dangers, we just want it"

Somehow I have the feeling that certain lobby groups are behind these 'complaints'. 

5 hours ago, webfact said:

FARMER GROUPS expressed their concern that agrochemical control measures proposed in the new ministerial regulation will turn them into criminals,

Easy.

They just don't spray poison and they won't be criminals.

 

It seems they just don't want to obey the law

Thais don't care when it comes to making 10b.i caught out the shop keeper around the corner filling the 20litre blue bottles with water from her well so she could make 10b a bottle.she was telling everyone she had a filter system.these are highly dangerous chemicals that have no regulation and no training for the users.its all about money and sod the deaths and poisoning.we want money is the most important part.

3 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

Can you post a link/proof of this please, I think something other than hearsay is required to support what you've written, it is after all an extremely important claim.

well, its a no brainer if you live in these sprayed areas as do i. My neighbours are dropping like flies from associated cancers and its not just the spray chemicals. Its charcoal manufacture, crop stubble burning, forest fires and so on. My family is at war i guess you could say with our local orbator, main council office, police, forestry and associated groups of the army. I can asure you thais dont care about others as it seems a bit difficult to grasp and when sonits too oberwhelming sonblame is pushed aside. Its all purley because they dont know. As an example an elderly guy next door to us worked at the neighbouring agricultural research place for a couple years. He suddenly died from kidney failure and had a range of other issues. The doctors said its mostlikely that he was spraying the grass around the front enterence of this place once a week to keep it looking nice because there was no other reason for these thingsbto suddenly show up and so fast.

His son, same house has taken the job and now spraying sugar cane fields in the area. He believes its safe because the government says so.

perhaps if the government were made liable this wouldnt happen.

We have no been able to stop people that have chosen to by themselves stop spraying across the road from us for which the water seeps in to our well contaminating it.

Thete is no need for the chemicals. We have 2000 banans and gor knows howmany other fruit trees. we mulch everything and put the grass back and naturally it fertilizers, holds moisture, etc. we nolonger need any additives to to get anything to grow and we spray less natural sadao tree oil to ward off bugs because there is a more healthy range of bugs to keep things in check. Fact is chemicals are for the lazy.

 

Would also be good if Thai laws could ban use of pesticides and herbicides that are illegal in Europe and US. 

 

Would help export trade too.

We had a seminar here in the college with sales representatives from Bayer... the safety equipment they told our students to use when working with their products was; dust-mask (like those you get at the doctors office... NO chemical respiratory filter), shoes (textile shoes, because you shouldn't wear flip flops working with chemicals... NO rubber boots) and gloves (they used textile/leather gloves... NOT rubber/neoprene gloves)... I really hope that I have managed to teach my students that that is not proper PPE!!! 

 

So the people who poison themselves, the soil and our food got heard but the people who have opposing views did not get invited?
Who organized this meeting ?
The chemical lobby?
I think what this country needs is an independent private institution which constantly carries out tests on food items we eat every day to make sure they are safe - and if not has them removed and warn consumers about them.
You can not see or taste these silent killers somebody needs to protect us from them!
About 2 years ago I invited 15 friends to a fruit and vegetable tasting at my home.
12 kinds of fruit and vegetables grown at home without fertilizers or pesticides compared to the same kinds of commercially grown items.

Out of these 24 samples not one of my friends chose A SINGLE commercially grown item in a blind tasting!


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4 hours ago, simoh1490 said:

The most recent piece of reliable data on this subject that I have seen is dated 2012 and this is attached, that concluded that rates for all cancers had fallen but were projected to increase based on population growth: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6694/9/8/108/pdf

 

 

"... our findings show the following: breast and colorectal cancers will contribute substantially to the national cancer burden in the future, cervical cancer incidence will continue to decline due to the national screening program, lung cancers increased in females in the northeast and south despite low smoking rates, and liver cancers increased in the north, where there is presence of liver fluke, and the south which is absent of liver fluke. In addition, we find that universal healthcare provides access for the elderly population in Thailand, a population commonly."

 

I don't see what you have stated, "rates for all cancers had fallen but were projected to increase based on population growth."

Other than references to smoking and liver fluke I saw no detailed identification of other causes for cancer, ie., from spraying herbicides.

21 minutes ago, boonrawdcnx said:

I think what this country needs is an independent private institution which constantly carries out tests on food items we eat every day to make sure they are safe

 

Impossible.  Such an institution will declare a pesticide safe if applied properly, and then everyone will promptly scream conspiracy.  It has already happened in the EU.  Conspiracy theories always expand to include any person or group that disagrees with an uncomfortable finding.

6 hours ago, Fex Bluse said:

Recent cancer rates for those living in Thailand have skyrocketed among the early middle aged (30 - 40). I have talked with 4 top doctors in Thailand about this at Bumrungrad, BNH and Samitivej.

 

I hate to say this but by living in Thailand, we are significantly increasing our cancer risks and it's not surprising that the Thai attitude to public food safety contributes to this risk.

I hope I'm not kidding myself too much.  I try to buy most salad vegetables at the royal project shops and also take a homeopathic remedy for general agricultural toxins.  

3 minutes ago, Harveyg said:

I hope I'm not kidding myself too much.

 

You absolutely are kidding yourself if you think that homeopathy is anything more than sympathetic magic.

2 minutes ago, attrayant said:

 

You absolutely are kidding yourself if you think that homeopathy is anything more than sympathetic magic.

Just remembered why I don't like posting. 

Anything that involves training, possible costs or a change to what's been practiced for decades is always met with disapproval!

Maybe some free leaflets to show that there are alternatives to the "killer" sprays.

Also highlighting the health issue risks not only to the 200,000 sprayers but to the population of consumers 

They could learn more eco friendly methods & use the results as a good marketing tool to sell their products.

Thailand seems to fight evolution and progress at every opportunity!