Rome/Geneva, 1 February -- Around 30 percent of pesticides marketed in developing
countries with an estimated market value of US$900 million annually do not
meet internationally accepted quality standards. They are posing a serious
threat to human health and the environment, the UN Food and Agriculture
Organiziation (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) warned in a joint
statement today.
"These poor-quality pesticides frequently contain hazardous substances and
impurities that have already been banned or severely restricted elsewhere,"
said Gero Vaagt, FAO Pesticide Management Group. Such pesticides, he added,
often contribute to the accumulation of obsolete pesticide stocks in developing
countries.
The global market value for pesticides is estimated at US$32 billion in 2000,
with the share of developing countries around US$3 billion. In developing
countries, pesticides are mainly used for agriculture, but also for public
health, such as insecticides for controlling insects spreading malaria.
Possible causes of low quality of pesticides can include both poor production
and formulation and the inadequate selection of chemicals. "In many pesticide
products, for example, the active ingredient concentrations are outside
internationally accepted tolerance limits," said Dr David Heymann, Executive
Director of WHO's Communicable Disease activities. "In addition, poor-quality
pesticides may be contaminated with toxic substances or impurities."
When the quality of labelling and packaging is also taken into account, the
proportion of poor-quality pesticide products in developing countries is
even higher. "The labelling often written in improper language fails to provide
data on the active ingredient, application, date of manufacture and safe
handling of the chemical," the UN agencies said. For the consumer, the label
is often the only source of product information that can guarantee a safe
and effective use of the chemical. Falsely declared products continue to
find their way to markets for years without quality control, WHO said.
FAO and WHO said that that the problem of poor-quality pesticides is particularly
widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, where quality control is generally weak.
The UN agencies urged governments, international and regional organizations
to adopt the world-wide accepted FAO/WHO pesticide specifications to ensure
the production and trade of good quality products. Countries should make
these voluntary standards legally binding.
The FAO/WHO standards are especially important for developing countries that
lack the infrastructure for proper evaluation of pesticide products. Pesticide
industries, including producers of generic pesticides, should submit their
products for quality assessment to FAO/WHO.
In a memorandum of understanding signed between FAO and WHO, the two
organizations have agreed to cooperate in a joint programme to develop
specifications for pesticides. This unified procedure would enhance the
development of high quality standards for pesticides, leading to improved
human and environmental safety as well as to more sustainable agriculture
production.
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Get info at:
http://www.fao.org/AG/AGP/AGPP/Pesticid/
For more information please contact FAO Media Officer Erwin Northoff, tel:
0039 06 5705 3105, e-mail:
erwin.northoff@fao.org
