ENVIRONMENT-BARBADOS: When An Apple a Day No Longer Keeps the Doctor Away

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Cara Mason

BRIDGETOWN, May 7 1998 (IPS) - Fifty-six year old Evonne Isill used to live by the rule — an apple a day keeps the doctor away. And she went even further, making sure she consumed her five servings of vegetables and other fruits daily.

But Isill has just learned that these fruits and vegetables which she, along with other Barbadians, have been consuming in large portions may not be safe to eat as they are being treated with pesticides which could be dangerous to their health.

After this information surfaced here, Isill has reduced her daily intake of these foods, fearing that long-term use could eventually take a toll on her body.

So too has 36 year old Ena Smith. She says she was always stressing to her four year old daughter, Ashley, the importance of consuming fruits and vegetables. Now she says she is not sure she wants to continue preaching this message.

“Right now I am not sure what is healthy and what is not. You keep hearing and reading of things that make you wounder if you are eating the right thing,” she says.

The danger to the Barbadian population lies in the fact that farmers are now reporting that they have been using pesticides on which instructions are written in foreign languages, such as German and they are therefore forced to play the guessing game in administering these pesticides to their fruits and vegetables.

“In some instances you don’t know how much of a pesticide you have to use and this is very dangerous because it can affect the application rates and the residue remains on the produce,” says President of the Barbados Agricultural Society (BAS) and Chairman of the Barbados Agricultural Development and Marketing Company (BAMC), Tyrone Power.

“The labels and instructions should be written in English because we need to get the correct amounts to spray on vegetables and fruits. Any wrong amount applied impacts on consumers,” he adds.

The problem is that these pesticides are imported and distributed local. They enter the country with the instructions on the labels written mainly in Spanish, French and German. The local distributors do not bother to change the label to English, the language of the Barbadian people, but sell directly to the farmers and this is where the guessing game begins.

“It’s not right that we should have such deadly chemicals, and agriculture officials are always telling us not to use more than indicated … I could use the whole bottle,” says one farmer as he complained about the dilemma which he and many of his other colleagues face.

“The chemical unit in the Ministry of Agriculture should have to do inspections to make sure they are properly labelled,” the farmer says.

Power says what is even more worrying is that many farmers treat their produce with these pesticides daily and in some cases the fruits and vegetables get into the hands of the consumer much faster than the period of a week which is supposed to be observed before these products are eaten after they have been sprayed.

“Sometimes you don’t know the side effects but the build-up of residue could be a health hazard and could even lead to poisoning,” says Power.

Furthermore, he says, studies are now showing a link between pesticide use and some forms of cancers.

The Pesticides Board of Control, which is responsible for the issuing of licenses for pesticides, examines the toxic effect of each chemical on the environment and looks at whether or not they have been banned in the past, before granting permission for them to be placed on shelves.

But this is not always the case as is now being seen.

Ralph Farnum, Deputy Chief Agricultural Officer at the Ministry of Agriculture says it is not always easy to regulate the use of pesticides by small farmers as those who travel overseas at times return with cans of these products in their suitcases and the Board has no way of checking them.

“This is done clandestinely without the permission of the Pesticide Board. We have had reports that this happens but what people don’t realise is that this could have an adverse impact on our ground water supply and environment,” he says.

“We all need to work together to protect our environment and the health of all Barbadians,” adds Farnum.