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Duque should look into irresponsible reporting on aerial spray
By ROGER M. BALANZA
Health Secretary Francisco Duque III should take time out from other pressing health concerns to look into how critics of aerial spraying in banana plantations are using underhanded tactics to misinform the public.
In Davao City, the center of information of banana-growing Davao Region, a daily newspaper, Sunstar Davao, has published in its November 6, 2009 issue an old decision by the DOH executive committee declaring the practice as “hazardous to humans.”
Made to appear as a final verdict by DOH on the fate of aerial spraying, the decision—based on a DOH study which wanted to totally ban aerial spraying—was handed out in August 24, 2009.
The timing of the publication is suspect. It came barely a week after a report in the Philippine Daily Inquirer about the World Health Organization (WHO), and another no less in Sunstar Davao, saying the study upon which DOH based its decision was “inadequate” and “in conclusive.”
It appears that the publication was intended to present the DOH decision as the latest event on the fate of aerial spraying.
Sunstar Davao reporter Jade C. Zaldivar, a neophyte in the field, should be wary about being taken for a ride by critics of the banana industry feeding her with misinformation.
It could dbe that an operative from the media bureau of Interface Development Interventions (IDIS), the noisiest NGO hereabouts against aerial spraying, provided her with the August 24, 2009 DOH decision, which has been discredited by WHO after conducting a peer review on the study in Davao del Sur alleging hazards posed by aerial spraying on humans.
There are only a few monkeys—among them IDIS and its clone Mamamayang Ayaw sa Aeiral Spraying (MAAS) and the National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying, composed of a bunch of idiots who do not know anything about bananas—trying to kill the Davao Region export Cavendish banana industry that earns more than $400 million in annual export earnings and employing hundreds of thousand of people. Ms. Zaldivar would not want to be a monkey herself by allowing her profession to be used as a tool of misinformation, would she?
Secretary Duque pronto should pronto make a rejoinder on the Sunstar Davao report where he is pictured as another monkey out to kill the banana industry. If he doesn’t, then Secretary Duque is.
Anyway, read on:
SUNSTAR DAVAO, November 6, 2009
Aerial spraying is hazardous: DOH
By Jade C. Zaldivar
Cub Reporter
RESULTS of a Department of Health (DOH) study said aerial spraying is hazardous to humans.
An official statement from DOH contained the decision of the DOH executive committee in their meeting last August 24 that approved and adopted the recommendations of the study done in 2006 by the DOH/Philippine Society Clinical Occupational Toxicology Inc./UP-National Poison Management and Control Center.
The statement was signed by DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III, undersecretaries Alexander Padilla, David Lozada Jr., Mario Villaverde, and assistant secretaries Nemesio Gako, Lydia Fernandez, Elmer Punzalan, and Paulyn Jean Ubial.
The recommendations urged the Department of Agriculture to stop “aerial spraying.”
Other recommendations include:
(a) The industry establish a health surveillance system to detect effects of chronic pesticide exposure in communities adjacent to the banana and other agricultural plantations. Include more detailed neurodevelopmental assessment of children, follow up of previously diagnosed conditions, screening for sentinel conditions, periodic screening of biomarkers and allocate the necessary funds. The DOH as regulatory agency will validate findings.
(b) Based on the Philippine Environmental Impact System (PD 1586), the industry shall perform systematic and periodic monitoring of pesticide residues and metabolites in the environment of communities adjacent to banana and other agricultural plantations and do remediation where necessary. The responsible agencies shall provide oversight function.
(c) Government and industry should develop and strengthen guidelines for protecting communities from pesticide contamination in plantations.
(d) Acute and chronic pesticide exposures can result in harm to both health and environment; hence, a shift to organic farming techniques should be considered.
(e) Given the results generated by the joint DOH-PSCOT-NPMCC study, and in the light of the precautionary principle espoused by the Rio Declaration of which the Philippines is a signatory, we urge the Department of Agriculture that aerial spraying must be stopped until proof of its safety is clearly established by the industry.
The said recommendations are grounded on previous accounts on the matter, specifically:
(1) The technical review commissioned by the World Health Organization (WHO) on the health effects attributed to pesticide exposure and spray drift;
(2) The voluminous evidence shown that fungicides such as mancozeb and chlorothalonil cause acute health effects and chronic effects to workers and communities living near plantations;
(3) That drift is unavoidable whenever pesticides are applied;
(4) Aerial spraying has been banned in certain countries because of concerns on drift and its potential effects.
(5) The Food and Agriculture Organization’s Guidelines on Good Practice for Aerial Application of Pesticides stipulates that ?risk management measures should be implemented and enforced in order to minimize the risk of harm to health and the environment from aerial application of pesticides and also includes guideline to alternative pesticide use such as natural and applied control measures?; and
(6) In an official communication to (Duque), the WHO Philippine Office cited significant comments from the experts? technical review indicating ?support for surveillance, environmental monitoring, banning of aerial spraying, and further epidemiological study on health effects of pesticides usage. It was also cited that aerial application of pesticides have shown to mostly reach non-target sites and communities.?
SUNSTAR DAVAO, November 5, 2009
PBGEA welcomes WHO stance on DOH study
By Carlo P. Mallo
Reporter
PILIPINO Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) president Stephen Antig yesterday welcomed reports the peer review conducted by the World Health Organization has tagged the Department of Health sponsored study in a plantation village in Davao del Sur as “inadequate” and “inconclusive”.
“We are happy but we have yet to receive the official and complete results of the peer review conducted by the WHO,” Antig told Sun.Star Davao yesterday at the PBGEA office.
National newspapers carried reports that WHO officials, who conducted the peer review on the highly disputed Camocaan study, were not convinced by the study, which said that the study was an insufficient basis to call for the banning of aerial spraying.
The disputed study was conducted by the Department of Health and some organizations who have called for the banning of aerial spraying in the sleepy sitio of Camocaan in Hagonoy town, Davao del Sur. The study, released last May, recommended a stop to aerial spraying as an agricultural practice, among others.
Late September, WHO stopped the Philippine government from taking any action against aerial spraying pending the international body’s review.
WHO officials asked the government to shelve any action on the ban being pushed by environment advocates until it completes reviewing the disputed Camocaan study, which claims that residue from pesticide spraying was detected in villagers’ blood, in the air, and soil samples.
The WHO stepped into the controversial aerial spraying of agrichemicals, amid allegations of rigging in a study purportedly showing that pesticide contamination has breached the boundaries of agricultural plantations.
Senate and House
At the moment, two bills seeking the nationwide ban on aerial spraying of pesticides, authored by Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez and Senator Miguel Zubiri who hails from Mindanao, are anchored on similar studies — all connecting the aerial application of agrichemicals to various illnesses allegedly suffered by residents near agricultural areas.
“Once and for all, the study on Camocaan will be resolved and finally put to rest,” Antig said.
The banana umbrella group has accused those involved in the study of “strong bias against pesticide” and of using environmental samples of questionable integrity and fabricated illnesses among residents.
PHILIPPINE DAILY INQURER, November 1, 2009
Banana growers get WHO reprieveBy Daxim Lucas
Philippine Daily Inquirer
THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) has reportedly found as “inconclusive” a controversial study that became the basis for the banning of aerial spraying of fungicides on banana plantations in Davao City.
Because of this, key players in the banana industry believe that efforts to have the ban lifted by the courts—as well as their fight against Congress’ moves seeking to prohibit the practice—have now received a boost from an impartial scientific organization.
“According to the WHO, the supposed evidence against aerial spraying was insufficient and inconclusive,” said one industry official privy to the results of the international body’s review. “Basically, they said the facts did not support claims that the practice [or aerial spraying] causes health problems.”
The WHO made this assertion last week during a teleconference from its offices in Geneva, Switzerland with Philippine government officials, including representatives from the Department of Health and the Department of Agriculture.
The official, who declined to be named, because he was not authorized to speak about the closed-door teleconference said the WHO was expected to transmit an official copy of its findings to local officials soon.
“This puts a big hole in the case against aerial spraying,” he said.
The local banana industry is one of the country’s top agricultural export earners having exported $780 million worth of fruits to the international market—primarily Japan, the Middle East and the United States – last year.
The development was welcomed by the head of the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA). The group earlier expressed apprehension about the negative effects any ban would have on the dollar-earning industry.
“This is a good development for us,” said PBGEA president Stephen Antig. “Hopefully, we can now correct all this wrong information going around about aerial spraying.”
In an interview, Antig pointed out that the substance being used to protect banana plantations from the “sigatoka” fungal infestation was a mild “fungicide,” and not a toxic “pesticide” as claimed by environmentalists.
He said the fungicides were completely biodegradable and approved for use by the agriculture department’s Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority as well as by the US Environmental Protection Agency.
Antig welcomed the WHO’s findings, saying that the industry association had always said that the disputed study – conducted in the 1990s in the municipality of Camocaan in Davao del Sur – had little scientific basis.
October 19, 2009, WHO Manila Office
WHAT REALLY HAPPENED
an update on the recent video conference with the experts from the World Health Organization. Here’s the summary of the report.
• The meeting was attended by members of the IACEH (Usec. Villaverde, Yolanda Oliveros, Dr. Nelia Maramba, Dr. Irma Macalinao, the Dionisio Team, Dr. Norlito Gicana, Ms. Aida Ordas, Ms. Angie Brabante (DENR)
• Dr Soe Nyunt-U, WHO Representative to the Philippines, presided the meeting.
• The WHO experts who conducted the peer review on the “Health and Environmental Assessment of Sitio Camocaan in Hagonoy, Davao del Sur” were Dr. David Coggon (UK) and Dr. Brian Priestly (Australia)
• According to the experts, the said study by the team of Dr. Allan Dionisio is “INADEQUATE, INCONCLUSIVE; IT HAS LOOPHOLES; THE DATA IS LIMITED”. Therefore, its conclusion (to ban aerial spray) is not supported by adequate data.
• The proponents of the study, particularly Dr. Lynn Panganiban, insisted that Aerial Spraying should be stopped. However, the experts reiterated that based on the document/data given to them, the conclusion to ban aerial spraying is not supported by adequate data.
• It was suggested that in the light of this development, a joint study should be conducted by the government (DOH, DA, DENR, FPA) and the banana industry. The issue on funding said joint study would require money.
• It was observed that Dr. Soe Nyunt-U was very objective and did not allow himself to be swayed by the different reactions from the members.
• The recommendation on the aerial spray issue will be taken up in the next IACEH meeting.
Filed under: Davao bananas, aerial spray, davao city, pbgea | Tagged: aerial spraying, camocaan, cavendish, Davao bananas, doh, Francisco Duque
