Bulletins of CIEPAC
"Chiapas day by day"

The contamination of land and water in Chiapas due to the use of so many agri-chemicals is alarming. The rates of cancer and illnesses in indigenous and campesino communities continues to increase. ⁽¹⁾ Some rivers have serious contamination rates caused by monoculture plantations (rubber, African palm, eucalyptus, etc.) or sugar mills. This pollution becomes even more serious as it accumulates in the dams of the area. Given this situation, many communities in the Selva (forest/jungle), Northern Altos (highlands) and Border regions have launched campaigns against the use of agri-chemicals and have begun the search for organic alternatives.

Meanwhile, the largest transnational corporations in the world invade not only the countryside of Chiapas but that of the entire nation. A study done by Greenpeace on Persistent Organic Contaminants in Mexico offers the following data: "Residues and metabolites of DDT have been found in eggs, milk, cheese, butter and cream in the Comarca Lagunera region (1975, 1981 and 1987), Mexico City (1978 and 1981) and in Soconusco, Chiapas (1990 and 1988). DDT and its metabolites have also been detected in the abdominal and breast adipose tissues in Torreon, Coahuila, Mexico City, Puebla, Ciudad Juarez and Veracruz in 1975 and 1995. In a study of children between four to five years old living in the Yaqui Valley, children whose mothers were found to have aldrin, endrin, dieldrin, heptachlorine and DDT in their breast milk and umbilical cord were found to have reduced coordination and memory, and inferior outcomes to physical tests compared to less exposed children." From another perspective, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported some time ago that Mexican women had breast milk with the highest DDT levels in the world.

Nonetheless, the country continues to commercialize agri-chemicals, including some that are banned in the countries that produce them. Among the pesticides prohibited in other nations but authorized for use in Mexico are: Alaclor, Aldicarb, Methyl-Azinphos, Captafol, Carbaryl, Captan, Chlordane, DDT, Dicofol, Diurno, Endosulfan, Forato, Fosfamidon, Kadetrina, Lindane, Linuron, Maneb, Metidation, Metamidofos, Metoxichloro, Mevinphos, Monocrotophos, Omethoate, Oxyfluorfen, Paraquat, Parathion methyl, Pentachlorophenol, Quintoceno, Sulprofos, Ttriazophos, Tridemorf and Vamidothion, 2-4-D. At the beginning of this new century, sales of agri-chemicals by region in 2000 were: Asia/Pacific 25.4%; Latin America 12.8%; North America 29.6%, western Europe 21.9% and the rest of the world 10.3%. In the same year, agri-chemical sales were as follows: herbicides 47.1%; insecticides 28.9%; fungicides 18.0%; and others 6.0%.

What are paraquat, malathion and gramoxone?

Among the most commercial products and brands in Chiapas are Malathion, Gramoxone, Paraquat, Foley, Herbipol, Rival, Ranger, Faena among many others. These commercial brands are mainly in the hands of the transnationals, Syngenta and Monsanto that hold the patent on glyphosate which is found in their products and is highly toxic. According to Ryan Zinn, member of the Organic Consumers Association with headquarters in the United States ⁽²⁾ , Malathion was commercialized in 1956 by the American Cyanamid Co. (which was bought by the American Home Products Corporation now known as Wyeth Holdings Corporation). Now that its patent has expired, malathion is produced or formulated by approximately 342 companies, with more than 1200 formulas on the market (1997). ⁽³⁾ Malathion is widely used in agricultural sprayings in Chiapas. ⁽⁴⁾

Syngenta is the largest agri-chemical company in the world. It is also the third largest transgenics company and it competes with Monsanto, Dow and DuPont in the commercialization of patented corn seeds in Chiapas with help from the government. Moreover, Syngenta is the third largest seed transnational. Syngenta has more than 20 000 employees in 20 countries and its annual sales surpassed $6 billion in 2003. Syngenta formed from the fusion of Norvartis (of Switzerland) and Zeneca (of Great Britain). Norvartis was the child of the fusion of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz in 1996 - at the time, the largest corporate fusion in history. Today, Syngenta has the patents for more than 120 pesticides and it has more than 20 of the most ‘popular’ brand names in the world (such as Gramoxone), according to Ryan Zinn.

Under the name, Gramoxone, Syngenta has commercialized its active ingredient named Paraquat. To better understand the harm from this product that is so commonly used in the countryside, it’s worth the while to read the prologue of the second edition of the pamphlet called, Paraquat, el controvertido herbicida de Syngenta (Paraquat:Syngenta’s Controversial Herbicide) by Fernando Bejarano of the Mexico Network for Action on Pesticides and Alternatives (RAPAM in Spanish) ⁽⁵⁾ and which we now present with thanks for their sharing it with us.

According to specialist, Fernando Bejarano, each year Syngenta sells close to $1 billion of Paraquat - the equivalent of 25 000 tonnes. To give us a proportionate idea, this would be equal to the total daily salary for 500 million people living in poverty in the world earning $2 per day. Bejarano confirms that: "At least 77% of the world sales of Paraquat occur in developing nations, particularly in Asia and Latin America. In Latin America, the main consumers of this pesticide are Brazil, Mexico and Colombia. Paraquat is used on more than 50 different crops in more than 120 countries, poisoning the workers on banana, coffee, cacao, sugar, palm oil and many other crop plantations, in Latin America, Asia and Africa as well as in European Union nations such as France, Spain and Portugal."

The sale and use of Paraquat in the United States is already restricted. The European Union is proposing to prohibit its use by both gardening enthusiasts and professional growers. In Germany, it can only be applied, "once every four years on corn and beet crops and on forestry nurseries in addition to its limited use in vineyards". For its part, the RAP-Chile campaign managed to have the spraying of this pesticide prohibited in the country in 2001. Colombia also prohibits its spraying "in the fight against illicit crops, a practice which continues in countries such as Mexico, to combat marijuana and poppy crops", according to Fernando Bejarano.

Owing to its effects on human health, "Paraquat requires the use of full body equipment that protects the skin, face and hands from contact with the herbicide; nonetheless, this type of equipment is rarely used, especially in tropical climates with high temperatures". Bejarano states that the governments should meet the guidelines found in the revised version of the WHO’s International Code of Conduct for the Distribution and Use of Pesticides, which indicates in article 3.5 that "they should avoid pesticides whose use and application demand the employment of uncomfortable, expensive or difficult to obtain general equipment, especially when the pesticides are to be used in tropical climates or for small-scale applications." Similarly, article 7.5 of the code establishes that, "it may be convenient to prohibit the importation, purchase and sale of a product that is extremely toxic and dangerous, in case the control measures or sales measures are insufficient to assure that the product can be used at a level of acceptable risk for the user."

According to Bejarano, Coordinator of the Meso-American and Caribbean Subregion of the Pesticides and Their Alternatives Action Network in Latin America (RAP-AL in Spanish), in the year 2000, the Central American governments signed Accord number 9 of the XVI Central American and Dominican Republic Health Sector Meeting (RESSCAD in Spanish), in which they promised to restrict the use of 12 pesticides "responsible for the majority of poisonings and deaths in the region including Paraquat". Nonetheless, they are not complying. "In Nicaragua, 1 500 San Antonio sugar mill workers suffering from chronic renal failure caused by exposure to Paraquat protested in July 2003 against the presidential veto of law 456 ("The additional law to law 185 in the Labour Code on professional risks and illnesses) which had been approved by Congress".

"As part of their international public relations and lobbying campaign to clean-up the image of its herbicide, Syngenta promoted the carrying out of a study that falsely appeared to be "independent". The study bore the name, "Paraquat: A Unique Collaborator for Agriculture and Sustainable Development" and was written by Prasanna Srinivasan and publicized on the electronic web page of the Marshall Institute in the United States, a conservative lobbying center that receives money from corporations such as Enron and that has published various articles in favour of Paraquat and against the precautionary principle and whose main activity in the recent years has been to lobby against the Kyoto Protocol, downplaying the effects of climate change." Bejarano denounced that Syngenta has promoted the presentation of this book in various countries to clean its image and to present Paraquat as benign to the environment and to human health. "In Costa Rica the presentation of this book received severe criticism from researchers at the Regional Institute for Toxic Substances Studies (IRET in Spanish), state universities (UNA and UNED) and RAP-AL, for the attempt to present it as a publication with scientific merit when it is nothing more than a propaganda campaign employing the opinions of only those who with interests in the use and sale of Paraquat or who have "training" conventions with Syngenta. It never mentions, for example, the scientific studies that have been carried out over many years by scientists such as Dr. Catherine Wesseling of IRET on the true impacts of Paraquat on health and the environment."

Despite the fact that the use of Paraquat is prohibited in Sweden, Denmark, Finland and Austria, Syngenta managed to have the European Commission’s Permanent Committee on Food Chain and Animal Health include it in the directory of authorized pesticides in the European Union in December 2003. This has met with strong opposition from the Swedish government and a coalition of six citizen organizations, among them the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) of Europe and the International Food, Agriculture, Hotel, Restaurant, Tobacco and Like Workers Union (UITA). According to Bejarano, in August 2005, the demands of the Austrian, Finnish and Danish governments will be added. The RAP-AL Coordinator confirms that, "Some evidence ignored by the Paraquat Review Committee Report which served as a basis for the decision to permit its sale in the European Union were the studies that indicated that chronic Paraquat use is linked to Parkinson’s disease. This is a serious nervous system disease that results in shaking, stiffness and a weakening of spontaneous movements as a result of the degeneration of the cerebral cells that produce dopamine, the substance that allows people to move normally. The report also ignored the results of a field study carried out on banana plantation workers in Guatemala and it furthermore rejected calculations for exposure models."

Alternatives

It is important to join the campaign that the Pesticides and Their Alternatives Action Network in Mexico (RAPAM) is encouraging, regarding agri-chemicals in order to achieve the legal prohibition of these products. These campaigns have been successful in Costa Rica where, thanks to pressure from citizens, the transnational Chiquita has suspended the use of Paraquat on all of its banana plantations. Another example is the government of Chiapas’ suspension of use of another agri-chemical - Lindane (Lindano in Spanish) ⁽⁶⁾ - for health uses, though it has not yet been banned for agricultural or veterinarian uses. On the other hand, after 17years of fighting by workers on African palm (or oil) plantations in Malaysia -- plantations that are much encouraged by the governor of Chiapas in this area -- the workers managed to have the government prohibit Paraquat use in August 2002. Along with Malaysia, another 13 countries have banned all use of Paraquat, especially with respect to reasons related to the protection of health according to Fernando Bejarano.

RAPAM confirms that "private companies and international business organizations have joined the campaign against Paraquat. The major Swiss distributor, Migros, decided not to sell any product made with palm oil that had been grown using Paraquat, this is in addition to bananas. Similarly, the important Swiss company, Volcafe, no longer uses this herbicide on its own coffee plantations. The international Fair Trade organization decided that all companies it certifies must not use Paraquat. Likewise, the world seal of the Forest Management Council is not applied if Paraquat has been used in the exploitation of forests." It is fitting to mention that along the Coastal Zone of Chiapas, this product is widely used on banana plantations and on other fruit crops.

Latin America is experiencing increasing success with organic production with high yields. This even puts into question the use of natural and organic herbicides that obtain pesticides from garlic, onion and chili peppers, as they likewise destroy the biodiversity and microecosystems necessary to maintain the wealth of the land and its high productivity. In Colombia, there are communities that, rather than attack pests with agri-chemicals or natural pesticides, use the incorporation of greater biodiversity to equalize local ecosystems while at the same time combating the plague.

The battles are being won on the fields. Hopefully, municipal, ejidal and organizational authorities will manage to declare themselves to be "territories free from agri-chemicals and their transnationals".

Sources and for further information: Fernando Bejarano, prologue to the second Spanish edition of Paraquat, Syngenta’s Controversial Pesticide, the Pesticides and Their Alternatives Action Network in Latin America (RAP-AL). Fernando Bejarano Gonzalez, Coordinator of the Meso-American and Caribbean Subregion of RAP-AL rapam@prodigy.net.mx Tel (595) 95 4 77 44. As well, one can consult: Fernando Bejarano and Bernardino Marta (editors), "The Impacts of Free Trade, Pesticides and Transgenics on Agriculture in Latin America", RAPAM and RAP-AL, May 2003, Mexico, Federal District.

See "Chiapas Today" bulletins number 426 and 467.

www.organicconsumers.org/

Malathion has several commercial names such as Graneril, Lucathion, Tacsofor and Troje.

See "Chiapas Today" bulletin 467.

RAPAM, Amado Nervo 23 int2, Col. San Juanito, Texcoco, Mexico State, Mexico. Telephone and Fax 52-595-95-47744.

See "Chiapas Today" bulletins 426 and 429.