Stop Wildlife Poisoning

Category: Uncategorized | Date: Apr 30 2008 | By: admin

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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