Slow phase out of ‘Paraquat’ meets resistance

Activists are voicing their objections to the Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Grisada Boonrach’s proposal to ban the use of paraquat in three years instead of one.

The Hazardous Substance Committee is scheduled to hold a meeting tomorrow to reconsider the banning of three controversial agricultural chemicals – paraquat, glyphosate, and chlorpyrifos.

But the BioThai Foundation has disclosed the minister’s text message to his ministry’s senior officials, ordering that the ban on paraquat be implemented on a step-by-step basis so farmers have time to seek an alternative weed-controlling option.

His message urged the ministry to start by setting a clear deadline on the ban of paraquat imports and setting up prohibition zones, starting with organic farms and river headwaters in the first year, followed by irrigated farms in the second year before finally banning the use of paraquat nationwide.

Alternatively, he said, farmers and local authorities could set their own plan to phase out the use of paraquat in their province within three years.

But the proposal is being met with overwhelming opposition from several environmental and health protection organisations and academics who are urging the Hazardous Substance Committee and the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry to follow the Public Health Ministry’s and the Ombudsman’s resolution to officially ban the three chemicals this year.

Thailand Pesticide Alert Network coordinator Prokchol Ousap said Grisada’s proposal was unacceptable, as it went directly against the Public Health Ministry, Office of the Ombudsman and the National Human Rights Commission’s decision to not just ban paraquat, but also glyphosate and chlorpyrifos, by the end of this year.

SOURCE: The Nation