Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Category: Pesticides, carbofuran | Date: May 15 2008 | By: Martin Odino

I’m collating information on incidents of use of carbofuran and other poisons to deliberately or accidentally kill wildlife in Kenya, to develop a database that can be used as evidence in the debate on whether carbofuran should be controlled / banned in this county, and as a permanent catalogue. If you know of any poisoning incident that may have involved carbofuran or other poisons, in any part of Kenya, could you please contact me at jophieclark@googlemail.com.  I am interested in any level of information, ranging from anecdotal reports to cases that have been confirmed by laboratory testing.  Confidentiality and data ownership will be respected. Jophie

One response so far

Category: Pesticides, carbofuran | Date: May 15 2008 | By: Martin Odino

Ngaio is right that proving wildlife mortalities are caused by the legal use of Furadan must be a strong legal argument for banning it.  There was a tragic incident of rare Angolan black and white colobus monkeys in Diani, Kenya, being accidentally poisoned recently by a carbamate.  This was first reported by the Colobus Trust on the PAWI blog on Facebook. Part of the work that the Colobus Trust does is to provide veterinary care to injured primates.  On the 8^th December 2007 they were brought two dead colobus monkeys, with no obvious signs of injury.  One was an adult male & the other was a pregnant adult female. The Trust suspected poisoning so took stomach content samples to the government chemist in the nearby town of Nyali. The chemist reported back that the samples tested positive for the presence of a carbamate group. Apparently a nearby hotel used an insecticide on their bourganvillia to prevent greenfly infestations. The Trust concluded that the colobus must have eaten the leaves of the sprayed plants and ingested enough chemical to kill them.  It makes me wonder how often this has happened before in the area?  The colobus population in Diani is on the decline, mainly due to loss of habitat, and does not need an additional source of mortality that could so easily be avoided.

 Jophie

7 responses so far

Category: Hippopotamus, Pesticides, carbofuran, lions | Date: May 07 2008 | By: admin

Hi, this is Ngaio again. 

Thanks to everyone for their comments and research. I think a few major issues are emerging here.

First and foremost, there is the issue of whether or not wildlife mortality and endangerment to human health have arrisen from legal (or labeled) useage or from illegal use. If it arises from legal use then FMC definitely has to take responsability for that.  Now, strictly speaking, the company is not responsible for individuals using carbofuran illegally, but they are knowingly manufacturing a highly toxic compound that is being purchased to poison wildlife, not just for agricultural purposes. We are talking about numerous incidences that are decimating wildlife populations, not just one or two isolated cases. If FMC had andy sense of corporate responsability they could launch an education campaign and carry out a proper risk assessment relevant to Africa to establish various toxicity levels to the species likely to be exposed. But would an effective education campaign then result in a decrease in their sales? And might a risk assessment reveal the risks to wildlife?

Howard, you made a good point–I completely agree that we need to back up our claims with some good, hard science. We cannot afford to be emotional on this one, it’s too easy to tear down emotional arguments. It would be very useful to see what sort of hard data FMC has. I was interested to read Jophie’s post regarding the claim that a hippo would have to consume 300 to 500 kg of carbofuran at once to die. Is this on the basis of toxicity tests carried out on hippos or surrogate species who would respond similarly? What dose level would this correspond to? To make some headway, we will need to be able to clearly establish that a) the animal was exposed to carbofuran in x formulation, b) the exposure to the carbofuran was the predominant or only cause of death and c) the level of exposure was consistent with a legal / illegal application.

Another issue is the root cause of the poisoning: human-wildlife conflict. As Dipesh says, it’s going to take more than banning a compound (or suggesting a ’safer’ alternative) to make the problem go away. Colleen, I thought your point about promoting more harmonious and equitable farming practices was very relevant. It’s certainly necessary to encourage people not to take matters into their own hands and go after a lion that has killed some of their livestock, for example, but it is also critical to take steps to minimise livestock losses in the first place. An audit of farming practices, crops and use of pesticides would likely reveal the occasions when pesticides are used, but not actually necessary. I’ll have a look through the list you sent and see about contacting some of the groups.

I guess the thing that strikes me the most, at the moment, is the argument that carbofuran does not pose an ‘unreasonable’ risk. This is a chillingly ambiguous term. Are we to believe that the wildlife and human health incidents noted up to now are ‘reasonable’ risks then? Who is setting this threshold?

2 responses so far

Category: Pesticides, carbofuran | Date: May 07 2008 | By: admin

I have had reported to me that on Borana ranch (Laikipia District, Kenya) on the 25th April, rangers discovered one adult male lion dead near the boundary with Mukogodo forest.  According to the ranch management the most likely cause of death was poisoning, although unfortunately they were unable to get a sample from the stomach contents for lab testing.  If I can get photos of the lion I will post them here.  Borana think that it is likely that this male’s companion may also have been poisoned.  Last year two adult male lion were killed in the same area.

Database of poisoning incidents – can you provide information? I am collating information on incidents of use of carbofuran and other poisons to deliberately kill large predators and scavengers in Kenya, to develop a database that can be used as evidence in the argument for controlling / banning carbofuran in this country, and as a permanent catalogue.  I would also be interested to hear about cases of accidental poisoning.

If you know of any poisoning incidents in any part of Kenya, please contact me at jophieclark@googlemail.com.  I am interested in any level of information, ranging from anecdotal reports to cases that have been confirmed by laboratory testing.  Confidentiality and data ownership will be respected.

Jophie

3 responses so far

Category: carbofuran | Date: May 05 2008 | By: admin

I‘ve been shocked at the response from our government and private agencies about the carbofuran allegations. We are apparently a nation in total denial.

I’ve just seen this on Nat Geo  in which Nicholas Wadhams relates his interview with FMC and  - I quote …

“Philadelphia-based FMC Corporation, the maker of carbofuran, denies WildlifeDirect’s claims of inappropriate use, adding that the company cannot be held responsible.

The Kenyan distributor of Furadan, Juanco SPS, also denies that carbofuran caused the hippo deaths in Masai Mara.

“Those claims are completely unjustified, and we have our own data to support that,” said Julius Gatembo, head of horticulture at Juanco.

“What they say about the hippos is just impossible. You’d probably require that hippo to eat about 300 to 500 [kilograms] [661 to 1,102 pounds] of Furadan at once to die from it.

“That’s just impossible.”

FMC argued in 2006 that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency had “exaggerated the risks of carbofuran and underestimated its unique benefits to agriculture.”

The company added that carbofuran “does not pose an unreasonable risk” if handled correctly”.

Can you believe this? How can FMC, the makers of the chemical, disown responsibility for any negative effects? Is this highly irresponsible or am I imagining things?

Many are wondering why we aren’t seeing reports of human poisoning by carbofuran if it’s accumulating in vegetables. Interestingly I found this article about the hospitalization of 132 people in eastern Kenya due to poisoning after eating sick animals on News 24 and on The Times

Reuters write: ” NAIROBI - Some 132 villagers in eastern Kenyan have been treated in hospitals for food poisoning linked to eating meat from sick animals, a health official said.

Scores of people flocked to hospitals in eastern Kenya’s Nyambene district complaining of “vomiting, diarrhoea, general abdominal pains and body weakness,” local health official Michael Kariuki told state-run Kenya News Agency”.

I wonder if this could this be a case of carbofuran poisoning? I’m going to write to the Pest Control Products Board  immediately to investigate. After all it is the planting season and it’s likely that livestock and wildlife are getting exposed to the chemical on farms.

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6 responses so far