It is interesting to learn that in the US, they are serious about the misuse of pesticides. On 27 May 2009, the Portland Business Journal reported that five Malheur County onion growers were fined $180,000 for pesticide misuse – specifically Furadan and Basagran. That is equivalent to KShs 13.5 million! Now that is what I call enforcement.
The fact that implementation and enforcement in Kenya is lax should however not stop lobbyists from pushing for the total ban on Furadan. The incomplete withdrawal of Furadan should indeed motivate the lobbyists to get the government to ban this lethal chemical. A ban would make it illegal hence that much expensive to buy. We should not forget that Furadan is the poison of choice for retaliatory herders targeting predators and bushmeat hunters looking for a quick buck because it is cheap. Making it more expensive should give predators, raptors, scavangers and gamebirds a break.
You can take action. The issue of banning Furadan in Kenya is coming up in Parliament on Tuesday (hopefully). Therefore, just go to nothoney’s blog, write a letter of protest and post it to the Ministers concerned so that when the discussion comes up in Kenya’s parliament, they will support the proposed ban.
Something interesting happened last week. On Sunday 29 March 2009, CBS News aired a documentary on 60 Minutes showing how lions were dying in the Masai Mara ecosystem due to Furadan poisoning. Almost immediately after that the American manufacturer of the potent agricultural pesticide, FMC, issued a press release declaring that they had withdrawn it from Kenya and other African countries. They even called the WildlifeDirect chairman, Dr Richard Leakey to tell him of their action.
Furadan as it is sold in Kenya
WildlifeDirect has been running a campaign against the sale of Furadan in Kenya through the Stop Wildlife Poisoning blog because of its rampant abuse by herders and farmers to poison wildlife. Kenyan authorities have largely ignored this campaign. FMC, and Juanco – the products importers in Kenya – have not been very responsive either.
A lion goes through the stages of paralysis after consuming a carcase laced with Furadan in Masai Mara, Kenya
Furadan is a highly effective agricultural pesticide but a very nasty poison for mammals and birds. It has been responsible for the death of large numbers of birds in the USA where its granular form is banned (it also comes in flowable or liquid form). In Kenya, it has been used to kill birds thought to be crop pests and for human food! It is also being used to kill lions, hyenas and other predators that are, or are percieved to be, preying on livestock.
The question is, did FMC ban exportation of this lethal poison because they are suddenly pious or they are just playing PR? My hypothesis is that FMC, having realized that Furadan has suddenly been identified as a poison of choice for herders, and this happened in popular American media, FMC took the obvious route: damage control. They don’t want to look bad. Why did they have to wait until the 60 Minutes for them to do something about this major problem in Africa? It is hard to believe that they did not know about the problem. If that is so, then they need to fire their entire PR team.
This is just an hypothesis and should not be read to mean that I dont support their action. If it works, then it will indeed have a phenomenal positive effect on lion population in Kenya and elsewhere.
I say if it works for this reason: when I updated my followers on Twitter on this turn of events, recycleme replied ‘what about the surrounding countries? Is it likely to get into Kenya from the countries still using it?’. I got worried.
We hope that FMC are serious about their pronouncement and they will follow it through. That they will also seal the loopholes spotted by recycleme and others.
