Subject: 30% of pesticide (POISONS) to 3rd world are poor quality
Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2001 15:47:25 -0500
From: Stephen Tvedten <steve@getipm.com>
Organization: Get Set Inc. (www.getipm.com)
To: Paul Helliker <phelliker@cdpr.ca.gov>
Director, State
of California, Department of Pesticide Regulation
cc: Christine Whitman whitman.christine@epa.gov
Dear Mr. Helliker,
I thought you might like to read an article entitled: 30% of pesticides
to 3rd world poor quality.
ROME, Italy (Reuters Health) Feb 02 2001 - About 30% of
pesticides marketed in developing countries, with an estimated market value of
$900 million annually, do not meet internationally accepted quality standards,
United Nations agencies said Thursday.
"They are posing a serious threat to human health
and the environment," the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and
the World Health Organisation said in a joint statement
"These poor-quality pesticides frequently contain
hazardous substances and impurities that have already been banned or severely
restricted elsewhere," said Gero Vaagt of Rome-based FAO's pesticide
management group. Such pesticides often contribute to the accumulation of
obsolete pesticide stocks in developing countries, he added.
The global market value for pesticides is estimated at
$32 billion in 2000, with the share of developing countries around $3 billion.
In developing countries, pesticides are mainly used for agriculture, but also
for public health, such as insecticides for controlling mosquitoes that spread
malaria. Causes of low quality of pesticides can include poor production and
formulation and inadequate selection of chemicals.
"In many pesticide products, the active ingredient
concentrations are outside internationally accepted tolerance limits,"
said 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, according to the FAO-WHO statement. "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.
Falsely declared products continue to find their way to
markets for years without quality control, the WHO said. FAO and WHO said that
the problem of poor-quality
pesticides is particularly widespread in sub-Saharan Africa, where quality
control is generally weak.
---------------------------------------------------
[Reuters]
Copyright © 2000 Reuters Ltd.
Well Mr. Helliker,
I would like to once again inform you that when our friends overseas
realize what your "registered" POISONS have done to their people,
pets, wildlife and environment - they will want "someone" to pay for
all of the damages! I would also
like to point out that in my opinion, there are no "good quality"
POISONS!
Respectfully, Stephen
L. Tvedten
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