A group of organisations, academics and unions have sent Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen a 17-page letter of demand calling for the immediate ban of the lethal chemical, Terbufos. Picture: Leon Lestrade/Independent Newspapers
A group of organisations, academics and unions have sent Agriculture Minister John Steenhuisen a 17-page letter of demand calling for the immediate ban of the lethal chemical, Terbufos, which has been implicated in the deaths of six children.
The deaths linked to the pesticide Terbufos came amid a recent spate of food-borne illnesses which prompted investigations by authorities.
The group includes the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB) a coalition of farm workers and civil society organisations including the Women on Farms Project, the Commercial Stevedoring, Agricultural and Allied Workers Union, Groundwork, Friends of the Earth SA and Professor Leslie London, among others.
They are calling on Steenhuisen “to exercise his powers in terms of section 7 bis of the Fertilizers; Farm Feeds Agricultural Remedies and Stock Remedies Act” and ban the acquisition, disposal, sale, or use in any form of the registered agricultural remedy known as Terbufos, an organophosphate pesticide.
They also call for a ban on other highly hazardous pesticides with six months for implementation.
The letter further calls on the minister to “ensure that there are no delays or loopholes created in any new regulatory framework that allow the ongoing use of chemicals in violation of our Constitutional rights to an environment that is not harmful to health”.
“Application rates of pesticides in South Africa are the highest in sub-Saharan Africa.
“Over 3 000 different types of pesticide product formulations are registered, including possible neurotoxic and endocrine-disrupting chemicals such as bifenthrin, cypermethrin, and mancozeb.
“The department also continues to permit the use of glyphosate, labelled a probable carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer in 2015.
“In the Western Cape, a wide range of highly hazardous pesticides have been detected in the environment and in exposed persons, whose modes of uptake and level of toxicity are very different. Farm workers live under extremely vulnerable and precarious working conditions, including being forced to work with pesticides,” the letter read.
They have given the minister 21 days “to indicate his willingness” to undertake the steps set out in the letter, failing which they are threatening legal action.
Director of the (ACB), Mariam Mayet said the issue had reached “a point of no return”.
“We are done talking. We are no longer prepared to tolerate corporate impunity and government inaction and complicity. We are here to challenge the notion that it’s okay to sacrifice the health of our people and the environment at the altar of corporate profits,” said Mayet.
Approached for comment, spokesperson for the agriculture ministry Joylene van Wyk said: “I can confirm that the Department of Agriculture has received the correspondence from ACB and will respond soonest”.
Cape Times