monoculture and as
TRANSCRIPT
MONOCULTURE AND AERIAL SPRAY
Prepared by IDIS,Inc
September 22, 2006
• Plantations are vast tracts of land devoted to one crop – monocultures or monocrop farms.
• Agribusiness or agricultural business – you make a business enterprise out of agriculture
• Agribusiness plantations – run by large local and foreign corporations
• Export-oriented -- targeting foreign market• Have been in Mindanao for decades• Recently (late 90s to 2000), plantations
started to expand rapidly – especially those devoted to pineapples and cavendish banana
• Why? Because of growing international demand and approach has become a national agenda
OVERVIEW
• Develop 2 million hectares into agribusiness lands to generate 2 million jobs
• Agribusiness is the quickest way of generating employment
• Out of 2 million hectares targeted, more than 1 million are in Mindanao
• Oil Palm Masterplan: 104,420 hectares for oil palm until 2010 (85% in Mindanao)
Medium-term Philippine Development Plan
Medium-term Philippine Development Plan
Generate 2Million jobs
Poverty reduction, Economic growth
Higher agricultural productivity, Exports
AGRIBUSINESS
Location Area (in hectares)
Central Mindanao Oil Palm 4,000 (Sun Star 11/04)
Compostela Valley 10,000 (Sun Star 10/28/04)
Saranggani 15,000 (Mindanao Insider 10/1/04)
South Cotabato T’boli 5,000 (Mindanao Insider 10/1/04)
Talomo-Lipadas 1,307 (DCWD, 2003)
Total 34,000*
Projected Expansion
Agribusiness plantations are literally and figuratively changing Mindanao’s landscape .
• Circumvents agrarian reform– Reversal of land access & control
under agrarian reform– Enhances & facilitates corporate
control over the country’s agricultural and food production systems
• Labor issues– Labor contracting only widely
practiced in plantation areas– Questionable contracts
Issues and Concerns
• Policy issues– DENR Administrative Order 2003-
30– New NCIP regulation on FPIC
Issues and Concerns
• Environmental costs– Heavy pesticide use threatens
drinking water sources -- groundwater and surface water
– Soil degradation– Soil erosion and sedimentation of
water– Flashfloods– Loss of biodiversity
Issues and Concerns
• Health and food safety costs– Pesticide poisoning in plantation
areas (Dr. Quijano study)– Food contamination – pesticide
found in fish sample in Tugbok
• Food security costs– Massive conversion of actual and
potential food production areas especially rice, corn, vegetable lands – Maragusan case
Issues and Concerns
HUMAN AND ENVIRONMENTAL
IMPACT OF AERIAL SPRAYING
• Fungicides - collective name for pesticides/toxins designed to kill or inhibit growth of fungi that cause economic damage to crop or ornamental plants.
WHAT IS AERIAL SPRAYING?
• IT’S A FORM OF PESTICIDE APPLICATION USING SMALL AIRCRAFTS SUCH AS AIRPLANE OR HELICOPTER
Why aerial spray causes pesticides to drift farther than
boom spray?
4
to
5
m.
1.2 m
What is a Drift?
• It is the physical movement of a pesticide through air to any site other than that intended for application (off-target) – USEPA
Inevitably occurs whenever pesticides are applied but especially during and after aerial applications
HOW FAR CAN PESTICIDES DRIFT?
• A predictable percentage of spray will transport potentially as far as 2 or more miles (3.2 kms or more) – 1994 US EPA Ecological Effects Branch
• 80 km – in hilly terrain under windy conditions – a study in central Washington
• The drift varies from about 5% (under optimal-low wind conditions) to 60% (under more typical conditions) – The National Research Council in the US.
Is there enough buffer zone to protect people and water
resources?• None – not even the 20m as required
by law to protect rivers• No 30m buffer zone near residence
and schools• In Alaska, the current required buffers
to protect drinking water sources is 66 meters
• Proposed buffer zones by different concerned organizations is >1 mile around drinking water.
• Drift – pesticides being carried away from the target area by the wind or air
Volatilization – pesticides evaporating from soil, leaves, or surface waters. Fumes and vapor in air can move away from the site of application and be re-deposited on non-target vegetation or soil.
• Leaching – the movement of pesticides through soil due to water movement.
Means by which pesticides contaminate the environment
Soil
groundwater
air / clouds
water
Runoff – rainfall and watering can cause pesticides to wash off soil, plants, (pesticide-contaminated soil particles to be carried) into canals and waterways
Some fungicides and their
documented adverse effects
Propiconazole Bumper, Tilt 250 EC
Possibly carcinogenic/ cancer-causing; contains reproductive toxins
Active Ingredient
Brand Name
Documented health effects [1]
Azoxystrobin Bankit 250 EC
highly toxic- fish, inverte- brates; not used Canada
Biterthanol Baycor 300EC
Possible cause of birth defects; not allowed for use in US farms
Tridemorph Calixin 750 EC
Causes birth defects; not allowed for use in Canada, in the USA, banned in UK,
Continuation…
Thiopha-nate Methyl
Topsin M 70 WP
Very highly toxic to catfish; toxic to earthworms; causes damage to thyroid glands, producing hyperthyroidism
[1]Culled from United States Environmental Protection Agency; the Advisory Committee on Pesticides in UK; www.pesticideinfo.org; Pesticide News No. 48 June 2000; extoxnet.orst.edu/pips/maneb.htm; Gallagher & Mcwhirter, Chiquita Secrets Revealed, Cincinnatti Enquirer 3 May 1998; http://infoventures.com/e-hlth/[2] Chlorothalonil contains hexechlorobenzene and pentachlorobenzonitrile as manufacturing impurities. Hexachlorobenzene has been classified as a carcinogen, a mutagen and a reproductive hazard. http://infoventures.com/e-hlth/pesticide/chloroth.html
Mancozeb Dithane 448 FVondozeb Plus 80 WP
Carcinogenic; contains reproductive toxins; may cause birth defects; suspected to disrupt endocrine functions
Chlorotalonil[2] Daconil 720 F
Carcinogenic; highly toxic to fish and aquatic invertebrates bio- accumulates in fish
Are there local studies that show the adverse effects of
fungicides to humans?
• Yes– Dr. Romy Quijano; Dr. Hernandez, et al– Dr. Lynn Panganiban (OIC-National
Poison Management and Control Center and Dr. N. Maramba (UP College of Medicine), et al
– Kalusugan Alang sa Bayan (KAABAY)
Results:(Drs. Quijano,Hernandez, et al)
• 11 out 24 individuals examined and water samples from hand-pump well (source of drinking water in the community) were positive for ETU – ethylenethiourea (metabolite of mancozeb)
• A spectrum of medical complaints and symptoms that is similar, if not identical to the symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning
• Occurrence of diseases atypical in quality – severe anemia in young males and blood dyscrasias
Panganiban L, Maramba NC, et al. Correlation between Blood Ethylenethiourea and Thyroid Gland Disorders among Banana Plantation Workers in the Philippines. Environmental Health
Perspectives. 2004; 112(1): 42-45.
• Results: more exposed workers higher ETU in the blood and have solitary nodules of bigger size than those non-exposed workers (organic farmers)
KAABAY.. .Results
• Many symptoms reported were similar to effects of pesticides on human health – respiratory illnesses, skin rashes, eye irritation, asthma
• A number of rare diseases such as cancer – lung, uterine, liver, brain, prostate and bone;
myoma, goiter
Our current economic accounting system does not include the cost to
human health and on the env’t…
• But there is now a growing awareness on this and a desire to rectify this mistake.
• And follow the Precautionary Principle• When there is reasonable grounds to
indicate potential harm to health & environment, precautionary action should be taken even if cause and effect relationship has not been established scientifically.
• A model example on this is the Province of Bukidnon which banned aerial spraying since 2001
• Another example also is the people of Baguio District, Davao City who did not allow aerial spraying to be conducted by banana plantations operating in their locality
Thyroid Cancer
STOP POISONING MORE PEOPLE AND THE ENVIRONMENTBAN AERIAL SPRAY !