Pesticide Levels - Standards In Thailand?

[mja1906]

With the abundant use of pesticides in Thai farming today, it makes me wonder if I am actually being 'healthy' when I eat fruits and vegetables here ?

Or if I am just filling my body with chemicals?

Does anyone know how the standards of pesticide levels used for commercial agriculture in Thailand compare to standards in western countries, say in the EU, UK or US?

I am trying to eat organic here, but knowing Thai systems and how easy it is to get around the rules here, I wonder if organic is truly organic here?

Or perhaps I am just being a cynic?

Any insights would be much appreciated

[BlueSmurf]

Better to try to eat well than not not bothering...

[drtreelove]

In 2003 or 04 there was a 3 day seminar on "Pesticides in Southeast Asia" held at the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden in Chiang Mai. I sat through all 35 or so papers (talks), presented by speakers from all over the Asia Pacific region. Those preceedings are published and I've seen the book at Surawong Books in Chiang Mai.

You're right, it's scary to know how much pesticide use there is and how low the standards are and how lax the enforcement is. But the pesticide exposure from simply consuming food that has been sprayed is minimal, just wash the food before you eat it, especially leafy greens. Fortunatlely systemics are more expensive and not normally used. The horendous exposure that is no where near to being regulated is to applicators, who spray without protection, wearing shorts and flip flops with the kids tagging along behind. The greatest risk of severe and even life threatening exposure is at the time of mixing concentrated chemicals into solution. Environmental contamination is significant, groundwater, rivers and lakes.

In Thailand there is not much regulation of sales, you can buy chemicals that are outlawed for good reason in developed countries. And most of the pesticide sales and advise to the farmer comes from the vendor, not from objective sources like university extension services; labels and MSDS (material safety data sheets) are not available, not read or understood. And one disturbing thing that I learned at that seminar, is that much of the ag chemical supplies in Thailand come from China and India where laws and enforcement are even more lacking or corrupt; many pesticides are heavily contaminated with impurities that are much more dangerous than the listed ingredients.

Organic labeled food may be a step in the right direction, but you are surely correct in your suspicions about standards. I would recommend that you grow your own as much as possible, or participate in a CSA (community supported agriculture) group where you can visit the farm source of your produce and see first hand something of their practices; like that being promoted by Fair Earth Farm in Chiang Mai www.fairearthfarm.com

Edited December 17, 2011 by drtreelove

[kennalder]

In 2003 or 04 there was a 3 day seminar on "Pesticides in Southeast Asia" held at the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden in Chiang Mai. I sat through all 35 or so papers (talks), presented by speakers from all over the Asia Pacific region. Those preceedings are published and I've seen the book at Surawong Books in Chiang Mai.

You're right, it's scary to know how much pesticide use there is and how low the standards are and how lax the enforcement is. But the pesticide exposure from simply consuming food that has been sprayed is minimal, just wash the food before you eat it, especially leafy greens. Fortunatlely systemics are more expensive and not normally used. The horendous exposure that is no where near to being regulated is to applicators, who spray without protection, wearing shorts and flip flops with the kids tagging along behind. The greatest risk of severe and even life threatening exposure is at the time of mixing concentrated chemicals into solution. Environmental contamination is significant, groundwater, rivers and lakes.

In Thailand there is not much regulation of sales, you can buy chemicals that are outlawed for good reason in developed countries. And most of the pesticide sales and advise to the farmer comes from the vendor, not from objective sources like university extension services; labels and MSDS (material safety data sheets) are not available, not read or understood. And one disturbing thing that I learned at that seminar, is that much of the ag chemical supplies in Thailand come from China and India where laws and enforcement are even more lacking or corrupt; many pesticides are heavily contaminated with impurities that are much more dangerous than the listed ingredients.

Organic labeled food may be a step in the right direction, but you are surely correct in your suspicions about standards. I would recommend that you grow your own as much as possible, or participate in a CSA (community supported agriculture) group where you can visit the farm source of your produce and see first hand something of their practices; like that being promoted by Fair Earth Farm in Chiang Mai www.fairearthfarm.com

Great information, thank you.

[Pond Life]

The only way to get true organic is to grow it yourself.

Even then you will have to watch out for suspicious bags of powder & granules.

As your wife/girlfiend is likely convinced that nothing can be grown without chemicals or be totally ignorant of what organic means.

[mja1906]

In 2003 or 04 there was a 3 day seminar on "Pesticides in Southeast Asia" held at the Queen Sirikit Botanical Garden in Chiang Mai. I sat through all 35 or so papers (talks), presented by speakers from all over the Asia Pacific region. Those preceedings are published and I've seen the book at Surawong Books in Chiang Mai.

You're right, it's scary to know how much pesticide use there is and how low the standards are and how lax the enforcement is. But the pesticide exposure from simply consuming food that has been sprayed is minimal, just wash the food before you eat it, especially leafy greens. Fortunatlely systemics are more expensive and not normally used. The horendous exposure that is no where near to being regulated is to applicators, who spray without protection, wearing shorts and flip flops with the kids tagging along behind. The greatest risk of severe and even life threatening exposure is at the time of mixing concentrated chemicals into solution. Environmental contamination is significant, groundwater, rivers and lakes.

In Thailand there is not much regulation of sales, you can buy chemicals that are outlawed for good reason in developed countries. And most of the pesticide sales and advise to the farmer comes from the vendor, not from objective sources like university extension services; labels and MSDS (material safety data sheets) are not available, not read or understood. And one disturbing thing that I learned at that seminar, is that much of the ag chemical supplies in Thailand come from China and India where laws and enforcement are even more lacking or corrupt; many pesticides are heavily contaminated with impurities that are much more dangerous than the listed ingredients.

Organic labeled food may be a step in the right direction, but you are surely correct in your suspicions about standards. I would recommend that you grow your own as much as possible, or participate in a CSA (community supported agriculture) group where you can visit the farm source of your produce and see first hand something of their practices; like that being promoted by Fair Earth Farm in Chiang Mai www.fairearthfarm.com

Thanks DrTreeLove for that very useful insight and information .You confirmed my suspicions. Although the pesticide exposure from consuming foods is minimal compared to the farmers who are applying it, I am just thinking about the long term effects of living in Thailand and consuming this produce everyday, compared to say if I were to live in the EU were eating produce there. Some people believe that this is one cause of cancer. You are right though, we have to remember to thoroughly wash all fruits+veg. When I first came to Thailand, I befriended a young hill tribe girl who came to stay with me, she helped me to cook and at the time it struck me how thorough she was when it came to washing the vegetables. The fact that she rubbed the green leafed veggies rigorously and spent a while running it under the water, it was something that I noticed. Only now, do I realise why she was doing this, and that if the hilltribe farmers themselves are washing their veggies like this then we should all be too

[drtreelove]

It's probably a good idea to wash or peel, and cook well as appropriate, even in the "organic" arena; some of the "natural" pest control and fertilizer substances that are used, like nicotine, rotenone, pyrethrin, wood vinegar, can be toxic in concentrated doses; manures, inadequately processed or contaminated compost tea and EM can carry pathogens.

[mo99]

It seems to me like a lot of Thai's think pesticides are the greatest thing ever invented. Now a lot of farmers are getting sick with cancer more than usual, I can't help but think there might be a connection. I saw on the news a couple years ago, a guy was spraying pesticides in an enclosed space where he was growing melons, and he died within a week or two (from extreme exposure). Anyway the government controls this about as well as any other rules/laws....when they feel like it.

[canopy]

In some villages there aren't chickens running around and learned it is because after they poison a nearby field the chickens die. In some cases they have given up trying to raise them. Imagine eating the chickens that barely survive the poison. Surely happens all the time. The worst to me must be the fish raised in the runoff water of fields. The amount of burning and poisoning in this country is just awful especially as it is unnecessary. Good to be aware of it but may be difficult to do anything about it.

[easybullet3]

You're right, it's scary to know how much pesticide use there is and how low the standards are and how lax the enforcement is.....

..... I would recommend that you grow your own as much as possible, or participate in a CSA (community supported agriculture) group where you can visit the farm source of your produce and see first hand something of their practices; like that being promoted by Fair Earth Farm in Chiang Mai www.fairearthfarm.com

i have heard (on a few occasions now) that some (or many) Organic Certified Farms will have a 100% working Organic Farm (which you can visit), BUT they buy LOTS of Non-Organic produce which they sell to supermarket chains (using their Organic Label).

Edited October 14, 2012 by easybullet3

[IsaanAussie]

There is a growing awareness here of the dangers of many chemicals used in agriculture. Unfortunately education is still needed in both the farming and consumer communities. Consumers can buy CSA produce direct from the farm. Friends have recently started up a weekly fruit and vegetable delivery service in Bangkok. They grow organically and they have other organically certified farms that supply them, all local in Sisaket. They even deliver in Bangkok by bicycle.

I would like to think things are improving and will gain momentum. But it is still very much a buyer beware food market here.

[loong]

You may have seen some packaged vegetables in supermarkets labelled "Safe"

I remember reading in an article that random testing of these vegetables found a lot containing high levels of pesticides.

[loong]

Thought I would try to link to the article

http://www.nationmultimedia.com/opinion/Dangerous-levels-of-pesticides-will-poison-food-pl-30191243.html

[IsaanAussie]

You may have seen some packaged vegetables in supermarkets labelled "Safe"

I remember reading in an article that random testing of these vegetables found a lot containing high levels of pesticides.

What would possibly make that memorable? You were surprised?

[tim armstrong]

Its always about the money. A few years ago our local community health dept at the University made a serious and well organised attempt to educate farmers about wearing protective clothing, and the dangers of long term exposure to pesticides. They even found money to provide the clothing, except, for the shoes ! So now you have the rice farmer in the space suit wandering around the paddies looking very high tech, but with bare feet.

Unfortunately, the fatalistic attitude to death is not going to change anything either. Only if the price of chemicals keeps climbing and makes the produce too expensive, will there be a shift.

[cooked]

Try buying a relatively innocuous pesticide somewhere. They can't tell you what is in it (work good, good), can't sell you a measuring device (use little, little), look at you in a bemused way when you tell them that, for instance this product has been banned in Europe for 40 years (everybody use here). I have bought stuff that is about to be banned in Europe because it contributes to the dying off of bees, but we don't have any bees here at all. I cultivate melons and can never produce the unblemished look of the stuff sold at the side of the road despite copious use of Neem extract.

To put it into perspective, this is more or less the situation I found when I moved to Switzerland 40 years ago. 'A bit of headache and go for a puke, that's ok'. I got a spraying round that took me two and a half days every two weeks- no protective clothing available from my employee, I went and bought some myself. There were immediately telephone calls complaining about somebody spraying poison and I got taken off the round and sent to do weeding.