Expert Warns on Pesticide Policy Failings, Health Risks

A chemical risk manager and environmental planner, Fredrick Otieno has said, strong legislation is needed to curb the influx of illegal pesticides products in Africa.

Otieno, in an interview with SciDev.Net, said Africa is using more pesticides, but there aren’t enough laws, rules, and policies to protect farmers from the harmful effects.

He said: “Although many countries have improved their regulatory frameworks on pesticides in the recent past in line with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and World Health Organization Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management, their legislation does not adequately address the risks posed, especially for Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs).”

Otieno believed that HHPs are pesticides that cause severe and sometimes irreversible harm to the environment and human health. They result in millions of unintentional poisoning cases each year, often in lower-income countries, according to the FAO, with women and children working in agricultural environments the worst affected.

According to him, “There is a need to strengthen market surveillance efforts to ensure illegal (unregistered and counterfeit) pesticides are identified and persons selling them prosecuted.”

The chemicals risk expert pointed out that registration of agricultural pest control products should be required by law and farmers should be able to obtain licences to bring registered pesticides into a country, adding that anyone who flouts the rules should be penalised.

Market surveillance to curb illegal imports and use in Africa is often lacking due to limited resources and illegal sales and use of chemicals are commonplace.

To address this challenge, government agencies should work together at border crossings and within countries to ensure that pesticide registrations remain valid, he suggested.

To him, “Pesticide products should not maintain their registration status indefinitely,” he explained, adding that “The law should provide for periodic reviews of registered pest control products. This ensures that pesticides that are problematic under local conditions of use can be identified and de-registered or their use restricted.

“A regular review of chemicals is still a challenge in Africa. The International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management recommends that laws on pesticides should allow for approved pest control products to be reviewed. If new information emerges about how these products affect people’s health and the environment, the law should allow for them to be de-registered.

“Many farmers in Sub-Saharan Africa get pesticides through government programmes and subsidies, but not all have the information at their fingertips to assess which chemicals are safe,” he said.

“To help farmers know which pesticides are registered, it is paramount that an up-to-date list of pesticides is publicly available and accessible to farmers for free,” Otieno noted.

He added that farmers and other pesticides users need to know how to check if a particular product is listed. Some countries use codes for the verification of products.

“All pesticide vendors should be licensed and an enforcement programme should be developed and implemented,” Otieno added.

“There is a need to strengthen market surveillance efforts to ensure illegal — unregistered and counterfeit — pesticides are identified and persons selling them prosecuted,” he noted.