Dangerous pesticides
The use of pesticides chemically related to DDT to eradicate tsetse flies has proved to be dangerous to human health. In Zimbabwe, studies show human milk to be twice as contaminated with DDT as any sample previously tested by the World Health Organisation. Dieldrin, aldrin and endrin, which are chemically related to DDT, have been proscribed by most Northern governments for use within their own borders, but production is still allowed for export to developing countries which do not yet ban them. The potent insect killers, together with another called endosulfan, are being used in some Southern African countries to protect cattle prone to sleeping sickness (trypanosomiasis). According to a World Resources Institute (WRI) report, many Third World countries are encouraging farmers to use chemicals with serious environmental and safety side-effects by subsidizing their use. Dr. Robert Repetto, a senior economist at the WRI says that hundreds of millions of dollars are being diverted each year towards the use of chemicals instead of being utilized to promote safer and better methods of pest control. The Washington-based World Resources Institute is a policy research centre that focuses on resource and development issues.
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| Format: | News Item biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
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Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
1986
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| Online Access: | https://hdl.handle.net/10568/44502 http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jcta04e/ |
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