AFRICA WARNS !!!—–NO SAFE LIMITS FOR TOXIC PESTICIDES
Recall that Nigeria is still under ban by the EU for unacceptable levels of a pesticide–dichlorvos on her beans
Now, the African Centre for Biodiversity (formerly African Centre for Biosafety) has come out to frown at the continued use of what it called ‘questionable’ data on pesticides by African countries. The South Africa based centre published a report titled ‘No Safe Limits for Toxic Pesticides in our foods’ in July 2017. The Maximum Residue Limits now seems suspect
No established safe levels
for toxic pesticides
The safe levels for pesticides that are
determined by regulators have been widely
scrutinised for being outdated, inadequate
and heavily influenced by industry, which has
even participated in the regulatory approvals
of glyphosate for the EU, making the integrity
of the entire process questionable. Some
of the concerns surrounding the approval
process and the acceptable daily intake (ADI)
doses include:
1.
Tests rely on industry studies alone,
which remain unpublished and kept as
confidential commercial secrets. This
means that data cannot be independently
scrutinised and comes with clear conflict
of interest.
2.
Only the active ingredient is tested,
despite the fact that certain adjuvants
added to commercial formulations are
toxic and has also been shown to increase
toxicity of the active ingredient itself
(Mesnage et al., 2014).
3.
Most regulatory tests are more than
20 years old for glyphosate, 2,4-D and
glufosinate and therefore have not taken
into account recent independent data
showing toxicity.
4.
No tests are done on low doses that are
below the ADI.
5.
Combinatorial effects of multiple
pesticides are not tested.
6.
The ADI differs in various regions, from the
EU to China, the United States and South
Africa, questioning a scientific consensus on safety
For full report please visit==https://acbio.org.za/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/No-Safe-Limits-for-Toxic-Pesticides-in-Our-Food.pdf
Sept 2017
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