Materia Medica Malaysiana

Wired News: Herbicide Ban Faces Challenges: "Herbicide Ban Faces Challenges"

Wow. A Malaysian health related item makes it to Wired!

TELUK INTAN, Malaysia -- Six years have passed since Malaysian plantation worker Eswari last used the herbicide paraquat, but she still loses fingernails because of what she says is residual poisoning damage.

Ex-colleagues still spraying paraquat and other chemicals on Malaysian oil palms complain of rashes, nosebleeds and irritation of the skin, eyes and reproductive organs.
They pin their hopes for relief on a phased, national ban of the popular weed killer due to take complete effect by 2005.

Planters and paraquat makers, which include Swiss chemicals giant Syngenta, are contesting the ban with media ads and studies on the product's merits and costs of its withdrawal.

Anti-paraquat campaigners want other developing states to follow Malaysia's lead, particularly those in the tropics.

Their case got harder in October, when an EU committee voted to re-register Syngenta's paraquat product Gramoxone in the face of objections from a minority of the bloc's 15 nations. EU members Austria, Denmark, Finland and Sweden all have bans on the chemical, while Germany has severe restrictions.

The Pesticides Action Network, or PAN, says the vote was a blow for tropical farm workers facing riskier conditions than those in Europe's tighter-regulated, temperate climes.

"It's so different in tropical countries, the conditions of work for plantation workers in Asia in general are very hazardous," PAN Executive Director Sarojeni Rengam says.

Western peers, driving closed tractor cabs, do not face the same prolonged exposure to pesticides. "These are poisonings that can be prevented. It's exposure that with the ban can be easily prevented," she adds.

Paraquat is fatal if swallowed, causing painful death by crippling the lungs and central nervous system. While that makes for grisly suicide headlines, says Sarojeni, the main issue is one of insidious poisoning.

"When you look at the statistics, it looks very skewed toward suicides but that's not the reality on the ground, where the problem is occupational exposures."

Syngenta, which declined to provide someone for interview, said in written replies to questions that surveys of long-term paraquat users in the tropics showed no ill-effects to health. It said the chemical could be employed safely by following straightforward handling norms applying to all pesticides.

Paraquat, as a highly soluble salt, was rapidly excreted, meaning regular sprayers faced no risk of cumulative poisoning.

PAN says the product, which acts by direct plant contact, is used on about 50 crops in more than 120 countries worldwide. The group estimates as much as 70 percent of all paraquat sales are to developing countries, with Asia taking 40 percent.

Syngenta would not give details on annual sales, although its 2002 annual report put revenue from sales of non-selective herbicides such as Gramoxone at $650 million. The United States was the largest consumer of the chemical, followed by China, it said.

M.R. Chandran, chief executive of the Malaysian Palm Oil Association, has decades of experience on plantations. He says paraquat is rapidly rain fast and quick to act, making it particularly suitable for use in the tropics. The MPOA wants the ban reversed, saying its impact over 10 years will be $710 million in revenue losses and higher costs to estates and small holders.

Chandran says workers often have only themselves to blame for exposure, ignoring basic hygiene such as hand washing.

"They take it for granted that they are immune to the chemical. It's not just paraquat that will give you this, other chemicals will also cause similar symptoms."

He points to health monitoring systems required for all workers, including regular checkups, a system he says depends on companies following the rules. But he adds that no one should spray paraquat all the time.

"Continuous use of paraquat, of course, we do say we do not advocate it."

He also criticizes chemical companies that give away baseball caps, golf balls and drums of free product with large purchases.

"What they should be doing is to give safety equipment for free and to work on safety equipment for the tropics. They have the means to do so, these big companies."

Syngenta said its checks with plantation owners and small holders showed suitable equipment was available for hot climates. It said the company had helped develop a poncho garment for use in countries like Malaysia. Local sprayers reject protective kit as unwearable.

Outside Teluk Intan, a country town on the west coast of Peninsular Malaysia surrounded by oil palms, the soft-spoken Eswari says sprayers must defend the ban or see it fail.

"If people like us give support for the ban it will survive," says the 34-year-old mother of one, an ethnic Tamil whose family came to Malaysia a couple of generations back. "Otherwise, it will be dropped."