UN specialist warns against use of toxic chemicals for produce of local consumption

[Dolores]

Marcos Orellana / El Caribe

Local farmers know the chemicals are not allowed in farm produce exports to Europe, but for local consumption everyone seems to look the other way. The farmers many times are but accepting the recommendations of Ministry of Agriculture agronomists on how to use the chemicals.

In recent years, the fumigation of crops with the toxics has made headlines when the fumes have intoxicated school children and staff when happening near public schools adjacent to farmed areas.

The United Nations Special Rapporteur on hazardous substances and waste management has raised serious concerns following his visit to the Dominican Republic. UN’s Marcos Orellana warned about the presence of toxic chemicals used in agriculture to control pests, insects, fungi, and weeds. Roundup (glyphosate) and Paraquat are still used in the DR, despite the availability of...

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[Manuel01]

This is nothing new.
The Problem is even more difficult to solve than you might think.
1.) The prohibited Pesticides are working extremely well (in some cases 10x better than the legal ones) .
2.) The prohibited Pesticides are much cheaper than the legal ones.
There are products to combat certain worms where the legal ones cost up to 1,000$US per liter and it need to be applied every 4-6 weeks
and than you have the "kill everything" that costs less than 40$ per liter and you spray it twice a year.
What do you think they are going to use if they know that nobody will ever check !
Only tests and heavy fines might solve this issue.
There is NO WAY ON EARTH THAT THE FARMERS WILL DO THIS VOLUNTARILY !!!!
And btw.... ROUNDUP is like Almond Milk compared to what they use to spray your Tomatoes.

 

[CristoRey]

This is nothing new.
The Problem is even more difficult to solve than you might think.
1.) The prohibited Pesticides are working extremely well (in some cases 10x better than the legal ones) .
2.) The prohibited Pesticides are much cheaper than the legal ones.
There are products to combat certain worms where the legal ones cost up to 1,000$US per liter and it need to be applied every 4-6 weeks
and than you have the "kill everything" that costs less than 40$ per liter and you spray it twice a year.
What do you think they are going to use if they know that nobody will ever check !
Only tests and heavy fines might solve this issue.
There is NO WAY ON EARTH THAT THE FARMERS WILL DO THIS VOLUNTARILY !!!!
And btw.... ROUNDUP is like Almond Milk compared to what they use to spray your Tomatoes.

100% aGREED.
Many problems in this country are easy to fix however this one is not.