Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Hi, this is Ngaio. I had a quick sift around to get more information on Mocap, more specifically on ethoprop, its ingredient. Incidentally, if you’re ever curious about pesticides or other compounds and you find yourself confronted by a page full of numbers, letters and chemical formulas (which can be a bit overwhelming!), here are a few things to bear in mind:

‘Use type’ indicates the target pest species. The CAS number is an identity number of sorts and if you use it as a key word a lot of regulatory and safety information is likely to come up. The chemical class will give you insight into the compound’s properties, likely structure, and mode of action — basically, how it kills or otherwise does its thing. For example, carbofuran is a carbamate, ethoprop is an organophosphorus, DDT is an organochlorine compound. The commercial name is the one the compound is sold under (Furadan), the main active ingredient is usually in brackets (carbofuran). And formulations are the different forms the compound is sold as: liquid, powder, granular…

From what I found on the American Bird Conservancy web site, ethoprop is very persistant in waterways and has been associated with a few incidences of fish kills. If this is the case this wouldn’t help the hippos very much! It is believed to have associated mammalian and avian toxicity, with a potential for bioaccumulation in tissues. It also has associated human health risks.

Now, more specific toxicity information is needed here to judge whether or not Mocap could be a suitable replacement. But safety testing is usually carried out on species that do well in the laboratory and are unlikely to ever be exposed in the agricultural environment. That’s part of the reason it was such a surprise when diclofenac was implicated in the Gyps vulture mortality on the Indian subcontinent. I’ll cast around to see whether tests have been carried out on token Africa species for ethoprop…

Do we need to suggest a replacement for Furadan? How vital is it to the local economy and to farming practices? Is it irresponsable, unfair not to suggest an alternative? What do you think?  

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Hi again this is Paula again.  One of the arguments during our meeting on Friday revolved around allegations of the use of Furadan in a fogging machine in the Mara to control mosquitoes. It was alleged that the fogging of vegetation contributed to the deaths of the 5 hippos and subsequent paralysis of 5 lions. The gentleman from Juanco and the Pest Control Products Board both questioned how this could be done - as the chemical is granular. The argument about how soluble the product was, and whether it would clog the fogging machine went back and forth - both sides adamantly insisting on their point. This and other facts made m realise that we conservationists are so fearful of Furadan, and so sure of it’s dangers, that we haven’t taken the time, or perhaps we don’t have the courage to get to know this beast.

This afternoon I did an experiment that I have been thinking of

I opened my pot of Furadan and discovered to my utter surprise that the product is not a white powder but tiny purple granules.

They look quite harmless. Then I poured these granules into half a bottle of water to see how readily they dissolve.

Here it is after five minutes of vigorous shaking. the water turned a light shade of purple, but the granules were clearly not very soluble.

Next on my research - talk to a farmer. My sister is a farmer, she says that before she became a fanatical organic farmer, she used to handle it with her bare hands. She didn’t know it was dangerous, and she didn’t get sick. I called up a former employee of a major distributer of Furadan.

He told me that the main users of Furadan are small growers and large scale farmers – who buy it in different pack sizes. Small scale farmers use it on vegetables.

He says that Furadan is not supposed to use on crops that are harvested below 90 days because it is a systemic pesticide and will be in the crop itself during this time. However, all these small scale farmers use it on vegetables that have a growing season of less than 30 days. why do they do this? Because the chemical is so effective. It kills cut-worms and other pests resulting in really clean green crops without any bite marks. However, he believes that the chemical is in the fruit/leaves that are harvested. Asked why they do this he says because they are generally not aware of the risks.

I asked if he was aware of any cases of human poisoning or toxic effects, he said that he was not and that he beleived there were cases although difficult to prove because these small scale farmers only use the chemical on crops for local markets – and not on crops for their own domestic use. He predicted that if we looked, we’d find cases of health effects of Furadan in towns where these vegetables are taken and sold.

He says that he has observed Furadan being abused in agriculture in Subukia where the community were spraying it on crops and not aplying it on the soil as required. He said they mix 10 gm in 20 litres of water. By applying it on the surface of the plants any insect pests are killed before they can take a bite …as a result the vegetables look exceptionally green and clean but he says the risks to peopel are very high.

On alternatives to Furadan he said he belived that Moccap was better though more expensive. This is a chemical that works on contact – it isn’t systemic so doesn’t enter into the system. He is going to send me the info on it’s Active ingredients. I would hesitate to promote any other pesticide to replace Furadan until I knew more about it. Has anyone out there heard of it?

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Greetings everyone, this is the first post of a multi authored STOP WILDLIFE POISONING blog.

Our meeting last week in Nairobi revealed the shocking damage that carbofurans are having on Kenya’s wildlife and led to a press release on Monday by Richard Leakey that has already attracted much local and international interest by the Daily Telegraph here, Reuters here FM radio here and in India here. The story has been picked up on several blogs like Not Honey here and Ethics and Animals here as well as here and Yubanet here. We expect the story to continue to generate interest.

This video taken by a vet Asuka shows the debilitating effect of secondary poisoning on a lion after it ate a hippopotamus that had died of carbofuran poisoning in the famous Masai Mara game reserve.

This incident raises grave concern about the toxic levels of pesticides that are entering into an otherwise pristine ecosystem, this could have been due to inappropriate use locally, or even possibly from agricultural areas may kilometers away. Either way, it shows just how dangerous this chemical is in Kenya.

We are looking for a good name for our campaign - In the USA there is a group called the Poison Action Network North America (PANNA), in UK there is the Campaign Against Illegal Poisoning of Wildlife (CAIP).

Sadly, the poisoning of wildlife is not unique to Kenya and big cats, but is also a problem across the sea - conservationists in the USA are raising awareness about the attempts by the city authorities in Philadelphia to rid parks of rats has wiped out squirrels. Humans are notoriously good at creating more problems than they solve.

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