Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Category: Pesticides, carbofuran, lions | Date: Sep 23 2009 | By: paula

Sad news, we’ve just heard that five more lions have died as a result of pesticide poisoning. We are waiting for results. The Kenya Wildlife Service has come out loud and clear about the role that Furadan is playing in the killing of lions.This graph says it all. Of the 100 lions killed in the last 12 months, 34% were poisoned with Furadan and another 8% with other pesticides and 2% with strychnine (a rodenticide). These data show that pesticide poisoning of lions is the number 1 cause of mortality for lions in Kenya.

I have even more bad news. Enoch has just came back from Tanzania and brought me a gift - a 200 g package of Furadan purchased a local Agrovet Store. It cost 2,700TZ shillings that’s $1.50.

The package says it is distributed by Juanco SPS ltd which is based in Nairobi, Kenya,  and the  date of manufacture is November 2008.

If you recall, FMC the manufacturer of Furadan announced to us on April 15th 2009 in Nairobi that they had not sent any product  to Kenya since May 2008.

“When allegations surfaced in the spring of 2008 in the Maasai Mara region, we immediately stopped the introduction of any additional Furadan into the sales channel in Kenya“

If you read the minutes carefully you will note that FMC asked us to submit all incident reports involving Furadan pesticide poisoning  to the Pests Control Products Board in Kenya. We do this and we copy to FMC diligently. However, to date we have had no response from the PCPB - they have not investigated a single incident that we reported, but yet they claim that they suspect we are tampering with samples and incidents. Indeed I was asked if I expected anyone to believe that the public were eating birds poisoned with furadan. If only they would take the short trip to Bunyala or Ahero to see for themselves! I’m sorry but their attitude just feels down right irresponsible.

It’s true, it is an offence to misuse any pesticide product according to the Pests Control Products Act, however, the PCPB is responsible for assessing and evaluating pest control products. Teh Board may refuse to register a pst control product if in its opinion the use of the product would lead to unacceptable risk or harm to things in relation to its intended use, or public health, plants, animals or the enviroment. The Board can suspend or revoke a certificate of registration if new information has become available tot eh board which renders the pest control product unsafe or dangerous.  We have looked at a number of websites and we believe that carbofuran cannot be used safely in Kenya where most farmers do not use protective gear, are sometimes illiterate and are often untrained.

The World Health Organization (WHO) data sheet on pesticides no. 56 which is about carbofuran states that all workers must be medically examined, wear full protective gear including respirators and that “all formulations must carry labeling DANGER - POISON” with skull and cross bones.

The US Environmental Protection Agency EPA says that “dietary, worker and ecological risks are unacceptable for all uses of carbofuran”

Sadly the Kenyan PCPB are not willing to listen, they have not responded to our reports and claim that we are fabricating the photographs and evidence that is contained in these blogs. For this reason they claim, they will not investigate. Hang on, doesn’t that sound odd? If they suspect I’m fabricating data then why not prove it and then discredit everything I’m saying? Thankfully the media are not convinced that I’m a compulsive liar and judging from recent reports, there is growing concern about this.

It is very depressing that the Kenya government which has already overseen such suffering of people continue to let us down. It is even sadder that the worlds richest nation bans toxic pesticides to protect it’s own population, but sees no wrong in sending them to poor countries like Kenya.

Tags: furadan, Kenya, KWS, Lion, lion poisoning, lions, Tanzania, wildlife poisoning, Wildlifedirect, wildlifepoisoning

3 responses so far

Category: carbofuran | Date: Sep 22 2009 | By: Martin Odino

Dear readers,

I have been underground for a while! I mean to apologize but…. I am still on with the business of ending wildlife poisoning. I will be back soon with stories at my study site in Bunyala.

The blog title above not only rekindles hope that the remaining stocks of Furadan are now getting depleted but also confirms that FMC indeed upholds ethics by pulling off their supplies of the chemical as the only proper measure to follow lions’, birds’ and other biodiversity outcries of being decimated by carbofuran. And what else could be an affirmation than FMC executives’ words that indeed they have not supplied any Furadan to Kenya since August 2008! and an invigorated buy back underway starting March 2009! This was at the meeting with the Stop Wildlife Poisoning Task Force at Wildlife Direct on 15th April 2009.

But the blog post Lion Poisoning in Tanzania just challenges the reassuring words above. The post contents are words from our informant and colleague who also sent along a pdf. document of the scanned label of the Furadan pack they purchased from one of the Agrovet stores in Tanzania. The pdf speaks volumes! Please look at the 1st page of the sent furadan-label.pdf by our informant for the details I will give below.

JUANCO is East Africa’s distributor of FMC-manufactured Furadan. FMC proclaimed they stopped distributing ‘their’ Furadan to Kenya (essentially to East Africa) around May 2008. The manufacture date on the label pdf reads November 2008. Zoom the document and you will see the date as well as repeated ‘JUANCO’ underwritten in faint brown on the user information in bold black. The underwritting is JUANCO’s ‘water mark’ and therefore authenticates that the product is distributed by JUANCO in this case after being supplied from FMC.

If the product was manufactured in November 2008, there is a likelihood that the product was distributed this year (2009). It means Furadan supply was not halted in May 2008 and there might be on going distribution by the company in question especially due to the fact that there are collosal stocks in the neighbouring countries, Uganda and Tanzania (Furadan is available, for the case of Uganda). Yet again birds continue to be taken down in Bunyala in thousands by the poison with a ghost source but with labels on its containers certainly pointing to JUANCO. Worst case scenario is rebuying to resupply, God Forbid!

The poison’s supply withdrawal and buy back just have not alleviated the situation so far….or are they in effect?!

Technorati : Bunyala, FMC, Furadan, JUANCO, Kenya, Lion, Tanzania, Uganda, Wildlife Direct

Tags: Bunyala, FMC, furadan, JUANCO, Kenya, Lion, Tanzania, Uganda, Wildlife Direct

One response so far

Category: Masai Mara, Pesticides, carbofuran, lions | Date: Sep 18 2009 | By: paula

Dear Friends, this report is just in from Arusha from a colleague. We will get photos shortly.

“I met a guy who confessed that Furadan has been recently (2weeks ago)
used to kill 5 lions around Serengeti. TANAPA are investigating and
they have taken samples of the dead lions to establish the actual
poison. The story was; the lions killed a giraffe near a maasai boma.
The Maasai, fearing the lions would attack their livestock after
finishing the giraffe, they laced the remaining giraffe carcass with
furadan. That evening the lions came back and 5 of them were found
dead near there the following morning!! There is a lot of Furadan in
Arusha. I bought a 500 gms from the Tanzania farmers association shop
at an equivalent of $15. Kisamo (TANAPA) promised he would share the
lab findings of the samples once they are out. He will also send us
the photos when he gets them from the guys who went to the ground when
the incident occurred! I am sure we won’t win the battle if Tanzania
still has the furadan distributed by JUANCO from Nairobi.”

Tags: carbofuran, furadan, Lion, lions, Masai Mara, pesticide poisoning, Pesticides, Serengeti, Wildlifedirect

2 responses so far

Category: Pesticides, carbofuran, lions | Date: Sep 16 2009 | By: paula

This report just came in from Tanzania

“Most of the agro shops have Furadan in Kampala. It is in KISORO as well right next to the Gorillas. I have samples of a blue powder from the Game Dept in Uganda taken at the site of poisonings .

There have been bad kill off of hyena and vultures. The game Dept in Uganda has lots of info,  pics and test results of lion poisoning .  They cant afford expensive testing but they know when it is carbofuran poisoning as the guts are like jello.  It is going to get to the GORILLAS. I just know it .They are only a few miles away and come into the agro fields to feed . I was with them in Uganda and DR CONGO ..

Very few raptor birds left in Uganda. Saw only 3 vultures in 2wks.

We just cant loose any more wild life to poisoning.”

Tags: furadan, Lion, lion poisoning, lions, wildlife poisoning, Wildlifedirect, wildlifepoisoning

3 responses so far

Category: Pesticides, carbofuran, lions | Date: Sep 15 2009 | By: paula

We just received this from someone who wants to remain anonymous

I checked out Furadan sales in the town of Arusha. We found it in the first store we went to. And, lots of it, available in 200 gm, 500 gm and 1 kilo amounts. We asked what it was used for and the first response was for crops. Probing a little, we then asked why would we see it out in livestock areas where we work. Response, without hesitation, was it is used to poison lions and hyenas and other predators. A number of other stores were checked and they all said that they carried Furadan, were currently out of stock, but would have more on Monday. So, it is a hot item and still being restocked.

We purchased 200 gm for $1.30 and have scanned and attached the label here. Interesting to note it was manufactured November 2008. Mentions the distributor in Kenya as well. My feeling is that it is still readily available and very popular amongst smaller, local communities here in Tanzania.

I can tell you that we have lost at least 10 lions in the last 6 months to poisoning in the Tarangire ecosystem. A colleague of mine obtained a poison sample, but it was not large enough for adequate testing.

Tags: carbofuran, furadan, Lion, lion poisoning, lions, pesticide, wildlife poisoning, Wildlifedirect

4 responses so far