Environmental hazards of pesticides
By M. Saleem & Dr M.
Arshad
ABOUT 25 million agricultural workers in developing
countries suffer from pesticide poisoning each year that
includes a significant number of women, says the World
Health Organization (WHO).
Most
of the applied pesticides in these countries have been
classified by the WHO as class one pesticides like
monocrotophos, methamidophos, endosulfan and carbufurun.
These play havoc with biodiversity, environmental quality
and public health standards.
The present socio-economic environment is becoming more
hazardous because of an increasing involvement of women in
this sector. In the workplace like agricultural fields,
about 400,000 worked-related deaths are annually documented
in developing countries.
The magnitude of the pesticides toxicity varies from country
to country. In Pakistan, about 30 per cent women are
full-time farm workers while about 70 per cent are
indirectly or directly engaged in farming. Pesticide
poisoning is correlated with cotton crop which consumes 85
percent of applied pesticides.
Women become victims of pesticides while performing
different agronomic practices in cotton fields. Different
research reports expose the plight of these poor female
workers. Out of the total 90 female cotton pickers only one
could be termed out of danger.
About 75 per cent of them exhibit blood acetylcholine
esterase (AChE) inhibition of 15-50 per cent, while 30 per
cent suffer from an extreme blood AChE inhibition of 60-70
per cent.
The problem is highlighted in a report released by Nishter
hospital of the city Multan, which is a major cotton
producing district. In one cotton season, out of 578
poisoned patients, 370 were pesticides victims (73 per cent
males and 27 per cent females).
Suicidal, occupational and accidental incidences were 53, 23
and 24 per cent, respectively. A total of 54 deaths (34
males and 20 females) with cumulative death rate of about 15
per cent were documented. About 81 per cent of the victims
were in the age range of 14-30 years.
Similar incidences of pesticides poisoning in other
developing countries like India, China, Indonesia,
Philippine, Thailand, Malaysia etc are also highlighted
periodically in their media bulletins.
For instance, in Malaysia, there are about 40,000 women
pesticide sprayers, which serve in palm oil and rubber
plantations throughout Malaysia. Upon their medical
investigations, “all investigated case reported either
vaginal pains, burning sensation when passing urine, beast
cancer, nausea, vomiting, difficulty breathing, skin
problems, giddiness, tremors, abdominal pains, fatigue,
blurred vision or discoloration of the nails.
According to the World Health Organization (WHO) about
37,000 cases of cancer occur annually due to pesticides
exposures.
Along with these, pesticides manufacturing and formulation
plants have also affected health standards of local female
workers. Owing to unavailability of alternative sources of
livelihood and extreme poverty, they are forced to work in
these plants.
Unfortunately, no precautionary protection measures are
taken against such open exposures. They work day and night
without wearing proper protective gloves and dresses. On our
visit to different pesticides formulation plants in Multan,
we experienced very poisonous odour generating from
uncovered containers of pesticides. The workers were engaged
in filling and packaging pesticides bottles manually. There
were more children/young men of the ages 10-24 as compared
to women.
People lack the unawareness and little know-how about
handling these lethal chemicals,particularly, when the
literacy level among rural females is hardly about 20-30 pe
rcent in many developing countries.
After pesticides applications to different crops, the people
use the empty bottles for drinking purposes, rather then
eliminating/dumping them to avoid residual toxicities of
pesticides. Low literacy rate lead to self/suicidal
poisonings. Unfortunately, rate of such kind of poisoning is
high in some areas.
With keeping in mind, the potential role of women in third
world agriculture, following strategies may help in the
protection of women.
* Compatible integrated pest management strategies (IPM)
should be employed for pest controls to minimize the
indiscriminate use of pesticides in agriculture.
* Empowerment of rural women should be done by providing
education facilities in far off rural areas.
* Awareness among the illiterate females and other necessary
technical know-how about handling of pesticides should be
imparted on priority bases.
* Recent biotech approaches like introduction of
pest-resistant cultivars should be encouraged to minimize
pesticides use in agriculture.
* Awareness should be generated among public and farming
communities about adverse impacts of pesticides pollution
via effective campaigns.
* Pesticides exposure to women can be minimized by providing
them alternative sources of earning.
* Institutions should be established to impart training to
women folk regarding different skills of livelihood in rural
areas.
* There should be a sound co-ordination; understanding and
mutual knowledge sharing among different organizations and
institution for highlighting the basic rights of women and
their protection as well.
* Provision of up-to-date health facilities in rural areas
should be done to cope with periodically emerging cases of
pesticides poisoning.
* Involvement of different organizations in securing women
rights should be encouraged.
Courtesy: The DAWN
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