To this day, our country has not officially adopted national standards for specifications of pesticides and the Fertilizer and Pesticide Authority (FPA) utilizes FAO and WHO specifications for pesticides as the minimum standards for registration purposes.
However, the FPA only restricts pesticides which have been identified in recent meetings from 1995 to 1998 of UNEP experts and ministers from 110 countries as Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) for rapid phase-out and elimination. By simple restrictions alone, these pesticides are practically available not only for specific uses the FPA limits them to but also for other applications where they are most effective - but definitely NOT SAFE. The FPA performs its function to protect our health and environment not on a preventive approach - but that of "after the fact" - when damage has been done.
Pesticides restricted for termite control only, such as Aldrin, Chlordane, Dieldrin, Heptachlor are also used for corn, vegetables, rice, potatoes, sugar cane, fruits, citrus and even on lawns and gardens. DDT- the most powerful post-war carcinogen is allowed only for malarial eradication programs without the FPA knowing that once DDT is released to the environment, it eventually enters our food chain - no matter how far nor how little. These five highly carcinogenic pesticides are simply restricted - not banned. Of the twelve POPs identified for international action and elimination, eight are pesticides. This only shows the serious responsibility the FPA has towards public health and safety.
Just recently, FPA Executive Director Alejo Villanueva, Jr. vowed to engage Congress in a showdown of debates to prove that the latter erred in issuing a ban on all types of incinerators. He stressed that toxic chemicals have a long life span and can contaminate our bodies of water and that 60% of our country's toxic waste come from the agricultural sector. He claims that incinerators which burn from 800 to 1,200 degrees Celsius is the only safe way to dispose of these toxic waste. He even went further to state that "Congress did not involve the FPA and the agri-chemical industry in deliberations of the Clean Air Act", citing the multi-million incinerator of Bayer Phils. in Canlubang, Laguna would be shut down.
The FPA's recent pronouncements on the Clean Air Act further shows that it is not out to protect public health but to protect producers of toxic chemicals. Instead of banning carcinogenic pesticides - they simply restrict it. Instead of a total ban on incinerators - they want exemptions. The FPA is more concerned on the efficacy of a pesticide and a fertilizer - not on their safety - precisely because they have been ineffective in being an authority for public health and well-being. They have always been and still are the rubber stamp of the chemical industry which has been largely guilty of destroying our environment and causing thousands of women to be afflicted with breast cancer. Congress did not err - the mistake is on the FPA. After allowing use of carcinogenic pesticides in our country, they now have a dilemma of how to dispose of them.
The PBCN strongly supports the TOTAL BAN of all incinerators without
exemptions. The thousands of women who have died of breast cancer as
well as those who are still waging a life and death struggle with this
terrible epidemic charge the FPA guilty of mass random murder by
allowing the highly toxic situation of our agricultural food supply to
happen by concerning themselves solely with the investments and business
of the agrichemical industry. The showdown is on the FPA and not our
Congress which for once is clearly standing resolutely in the people's
interest.
