______________
For comments and suggestions:
Email us at feedback@insidemindanao.com
or send us a message thru our MESSAGE TO THE EDITOR portion on our homepage
First Posted on Inside Mindanao (www.insidemindanao.com) on March 22, 2009
Study calls for shift from aerial spraying of pesticides to organic farming
By Ellen Red
The Philippine Society of Clinical and Occupational Toxicology and the National Poison and Management and Control Center, after their medical investigation on the health and environment of sitio Camocaan, barangay Aplaya, Hagonoy, Davao del Sur, recommended for the shift from aerial spraying of pesticides to organic farming.
Philippine Society of Clinical and Occupational Toxicology is the country's premier medical society devoted to the advancement of toxicology; while the National Poison and Management and Control Center focused its activities on the management of acute poisoning cases and research.
Commissioned by the Department of Health in 2006, the two research institutions commenced a study on the health and environment of sitio Camocaan, a community situated adjacent to Lapanday, a banana plantation where aerial spraying of pesticides has been a practice for many years now.
In their study, the Philippine Society of Clinical and Occupational Toxicology and the National Poison and Management and Control Center found out that 52% of respondents from Camocaan who were indirectly exposed to aerially sprayed pesticides experienced eye pain, eye tearing, headache, eye redness, eye itchiness, dizziness, and skin itchiness.
The two research institutions also found out in their study that respondents from Camocaan who were indirectly exposed to aerially sprayed pesticides have developmental delays, skin disorders such as chloracne and cutaneous lupus erythematosus, and thyroid gland disorders.
The Philippine Society of Clinical and Occupational Toxicology and the National Poison and Management and Control Center also called on government agencies to review the guidelines for protecting communities from pesticide contamination from large plantations.
In early 2000, medical investigations conducted by Dr. Romeo Quijano, a toxicologist from the University of the Philippines and connected with the Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific; and Nisperos, et al., also found a link between exposure to aerial spraying pesticides and health problems such as delayed mental development in children, decreased resistance to communicable diseases, thyroid cancer, and blood dyscrasias.
Aerial spray case timeline
The City Government of Davao passed in 2007 an ordinance which bans the use of aerial spray.
The passage of Davao City aerial spraying ordinance took the Davao lawmakers three years because of the intense debate between the groups that backed the passage of the ordinance and banana plantation owners.
The plantation companies, under the umbrella of Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA), challenged the validity and constitutionality of the ordinance by filing a case against the City Government to stop its implementation. The Regional Trial Court ruled in favor of the ordinance.
On October 18, 2007, PBGEA filed an Urgent Motion for the Issuance of a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) and/or a Writ of Preliminary Injunction before the Court of Appeals.
On November 26, 2007, airplanes resumed aerial spraying after the Court of Appeals Division issued a 60—day TRO and the subsequent Writ of Preliminary Injunction on the aerial spraying ban ordinance.
PBGEA alleged in its urgent motion before the Court of Appeals that the ban on aerial spraying would make their bananas susceptible to the Black Sigatoka disease. The motion, which was submitted to the Court of Appeals last October 18, says that "considering the extreme contagious nature of Black Sigatoka disease, by the time that the Honorable Court resolves the instant appeal on the merits and by the time the appellants are able to mount even a minimal capacity to spray manually, the entire banana plantation would have already been devastated by the Black Sigatoka disease."
For months, farmers from Davao City rallied in front of the Court of Appeals Office in Cagayan de Oro City in protest of the alleged court's inaction in deciding the case regarding aerial spraying. Protesters from barangay Sirib, Calinan District, Davao City reported that aerial spraying on banana plantations in their village brought forth skin diseases to the residents. Protesters also reported that their farm trees and plants were visibly withered as a result aerial spraying of pesticides.
In January this year, the Court of Appeals trashed the earlier decision of the Regional Trial Court and declared the Davao City aerial spraying ordinance as unconstitutional.
END