China to increase inspection of agricultural products and crack down on illegal pesticides

BEIJING (AP): China said Monday it had boosted inspections of agriculture products nationwide in a bid to cut the use of banned pesticides and the overuse of animal feed additives and fertilizers.
Ten people have been arrested and almost 100 offending companies shut down since August, Vice Minister of Agriculture Gao Hongbin said.
Gao said the ministry was "targeting 100 percent surveillance of large and medium-sized cities'' in the hunt for illegal pesticides and feed additives.
China's food chain is tainted at many levels by the overuse of pesticides and additives.
While the problem has been common in China for years, it aroused international concern this year because of complaints about tainted Chinese exports, such as farmed fish in which U.S. and European authorities have found high doses of a carcinogenic antibiotic.
Gao said authorities were also "targeting the illegal production, sale and application of five types of pesticides.''
He said the ministry was attaching great importance to agricultural inspections.
There will also be random checks for pesticide residue in agriculture products.
Gao said that since the inspection program was launched last month 10 people have been arrested and 95 companies without appropriate licenses have been shut while the business licenses of another six companies were revoked.

Sarawak upset over veggie ban

MIRI: The ban imposed by Brunei on vegetables from Sarawak has badly affected the income of farmers and tarnished the image of the state’s agriculture sector, said Deputy Chief Minister Tan Sri Dr George Chan Hong Nam.
He said the state government was “very upset” over the move and would conduct a thorough investigation to see if the ban was warranted.
“The ban was imposed supposedly because our vegetables contained too much pesticides. However, as far as I know, Sarawak has already drastically reduced the use of pesticides and chemicals in most of our farms,” he said when contacted yesterday.
Dr Chan is also State Agriculture Modernisation Minister and State Industrial Development Minister.
Brunei imposed a ban three weeks ago on commercially grown vegetables from Malaysia, the bulk of which comes from Sarawak, claiming that the vegetables contained dangerously high amount of pesticides.
Dr Chan said Sarawak was also exporting vegetables to other countries like Japan and Hong Kong.
“So it is obvious the quality of our vegetables are in tune with international health standards. It cannot be that our standard is so different from Brunei,” he said.
Asked about the loss of income, he said it was “very big”.
Previous statistics obtained from vegetable growers in Miri showed that at least RM30mil worth of greens crossed the border into Brunei from Miri district alone every year.
“I want a full report from the relevant agriculture agencies and also from the health department to find out the actual situation,” he said.
This is not the first time that Brunei had imposed such ban of greens from Sarawak.
Two years ago, a similar ban was also imposed that lasted many months before it was lifted.

Project to grow padi on abandoned land a success

MALACCA: Syarikat Padi Melaka has successfully undertaken a pilot project to cultivate padi on a 24ha site that had been abandoned for 10 years.
Chief Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam said the padi, which was planted at Kg Padang Temu and Kg Ladang in Semabok in June was ready for harvesting.
“We are expecting to get about 3.5 to 4 metric tonnes per ha compared to the average of 6 metric tonnes per ha,” he said.
His speech was read out by state rural development and agriculture committee chairman Datuk Hamdin Abdullah at a ceremony to harvest the padi in Kg Padang Temu here yesterday.
Mohd Ali said the state-owned Syarikat Padi Melaka had leased the land from 97 landowners for a three-year period to undertake the padi cultivation.
“After the three years, the landowners can cultivate their land or continue to lease it back to the company for an annual rental,” he said.
Mohd Ali also said many landowners had not cultivated their land because of labour shortage as well as the lower returns from padi cultivation.
He said though 2,1762ha of land had been allotted for padi cultivation, only 1,801ha had been utilised, with an average yield of 3.5 metric tonnes per ha.
“The yield is lower than the national average of 4.5 metric tonnes per ha and measures have to be taken to increase the output,” he said.
Speaking to reporters later, Hamdin said similar projects would be undertaken in Alai, Kandang and Air Molek in the Melaka Tengah district and in Alor Gajah.

Government agencies have a 'duty to keep public informed'

19 September, 2007
DIFFERENT agencies seem to have different results for the pesticide contamination levels. "When I asked the Department of Agriculture about pesticide contamination, they said it’s only 10 per cent," said Gurmit Singh, the executive director of the Centre for Environment, Technology and Development Malaysia."When I called the Ministry of Health, they told me it’s 30 per cent. If the contamination for farm level is low, how come the retail level is high?"This raises the question of whether the sampling methods are comparable."Gurmit said both agencies should adopt a common sampling method and publish the results in annual reports or on their websites."We can’t depend on research seminars and scare stories to emerge to get information."The agencies have more duty to the public than retailers. They are supposed to make sure the public is not poisoned."Gurmit, however, said not all nice-looking vegetables contained pesticide residues."Organic vegetables are fresh and don’t have holes. And vegetables with holes don’t mean they are not chemically treated. "Maybe the pesticide level is not high enough or the pests have become resistant."And when they are resistant, farmers will use a cocktail of pesticides. This will pose more risks to public health."The Ministry of Health could not be reached for comments.

Cholera afflicts 7,000 in Iraq, water tested - WHO

GENEVA (Reuters) - Nearly 7,000 people in northern Iraq have been afflicted with cholera in past weeks, and 10 have died from the diarrhoeal disease, the World Health Organisation (WHO) said on Tuesday.
Fadela Chaib, a spokeswoman for the United Nations agency, said the precise source of the outbreak spanning three governorates -- Sulaimaniya, Kirkuk and Erbil -- was not yet clear, though polluted water was thought to be the cause.
All public water systems in the affected areas have been chlorinated, and samples are being regularly collected and tested to ensure potable water standards are met, she said.
A woman allegedly contaminated with cholera, is seen in a hospital in Sulaimaniya in Iraq in this August 29, 2007 file photo. (REUTERS/Sherko Raouf)"In controlling the spread of cholera WHO does not recommend any special restrictions to travel or trade to or from affected areas," the Geneva-based agency said in a statement.
According to WHO figures, more than 3,000 people in Sulaimaniya fell ill with acute water diarrhoea linked to cholera between Aug. 23 and Sept. 6. Nine people there died.
Kirkuk had more than 3,700 cases of acute diarrhoeal disease, and one related death between July 29 and Sept. 2. Kirkuk has its first case of cholera confirmed on Aug. 14, and six laboratory-confirmed cases of cholera have been recently been reported in Erbil, the WHO said in a statement.
The International Committee of the Red Cross, Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), and United Nations agencies including UNICEF and the U.N. Development Programme have joined WHO efforts to respond to the cholera epidemic.
These groups have been distributing antibiotics and oral rehydration salts, supporting water monitoring, and educating the public about ways to avoid cholera, which can kill even healthy people in a few hours due to dehydration, Chaib said.
Sudden, large outbreaks of cholera are usually caused by a contaminated water supply. The disease is rarely transmitted by person-to-person contact.

Hotel shows it cares for the environment

TRADERS Hotel staff members went ‘green’ when they celebrated the ISO Week recently.
Themed ‘Heal the World’, the hotel organised a series of activities for staff and guests to help raise their awareness and care towards the environment.
The ISO Week was launched at the hotel's entrance, kicking off its main highlight and first event – the ‘Cycle to Recycle’.
The first 10 cyclists left the hotel at 9.30am and headed to Auto Bavaria on Jalan Anson, where the second team took over and went on to Sunrise Tower's Pizza Hut in Gurney Drive.
They then met the third team at Gurney Tower, which took over the bikes and cycled to the final stop at Singapore Airlines on Jalan Sultan Ahmad Shah before heading back to the hotel.
At each stop, a representative of the hotel presented bonsai plants to the businesses’ managements as a gesture of appreciation for letting the cyclists rest and handover their bikes.
The hotel also later set up a collection booth at its entrance from 9am to 1pm to gather recyclable materials from the public.
The ISO Week also included programmes for the hotel’s staff like environmental talks by the Department of Environment deputy director Muniandy Mariappan and Department of Occupational Safety and Health deputy director Hazlina Yon, and a recycle art competition.
There were four screenings of the documentary ‘An Inconvenient Truth’ for the staff and hotel guests at the hotel.
SMK Union students were given a tour of the hotel to learn about water and energy conservations, waste disposal and chemical storage.

Ban on paraquat lifted for study

KUALA LUMPUR: The ban on the herbicide paraquat will be temporarily lifted from Nov 1, to allow a comprehensive study on its many uses.

The Pesticide Control Division under the then Agriculture Ministry banned the weedkiller for its hazardous effect on health in August 2002.

The decision to temporarily lift the ban by the Agriculture and Agro-based Industry Ministry now was made following appeals from farmers and manufacturers to look at the greater uses of the herbicide.

“We want to do an extensive study on paraquat, its harmful effects and positive aspects, before the set date for its total ban in November next year,” Pesticide Control Division director Nursiah Tajul Arus told The Star.


Although the ban was imposed in August 2002, paraquat products such as Syngenta's Gramoxone, which were previously registered for use, were being phased out in stages by November 2007.

“If it is proven that paraquat’s usefulness outweighs its negative impact, we may have to review its usage.

“The Agriculture Department wants to review paraquat’s effectiveness on various plants and cash crops,” she added.

To facilitate the study, the Pesticides Board is now allowing registration of paraquat for all crops.

Federation of Malaysian Conumers Association consultant for health and environment Josie Fernandez said: “It is surprising that the Government is reconsidering the ban on the one of the most hazardous poisons in the world – and it has no antidote.

“Paraquat causes a litany of problems to plantation workers and farmers including severe illness and death.

“The Government should not compromise on the safety and health of poor workers.”
Fernandez said some corporations in Europe had declared that they would not import palm oil from nations that use paraquat in plantations as the palm oil might carry traces of the poison.

A study by the National Poison Centre in 2002 showed that women using paraquat suffered nosebleeds, tearing of the eyes, contact dermatitis, skin irritation and sores, nail discolouration, dropping of the nails and abdominal ulcerations.

Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific executive director Sarojeni V. Rengam said: “It is lamentable that the Government has taken a step back on this dangerous chemical.

“It has come to our attention that the industry has been putting pressure on the authorities to repeal the ban.”

“The total ban should have taken effect in 2005, but a phase out period has been extended till 2007 after appeals by the industry,” she said.

New Study Confirms The Ecological Virtues Of Organic Farming

Organic farming has long been touted as an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional agriculture. A new study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) provides strong evidence to support that claim.
Writing in the March 6 online edition of PNAS, Stanford University graduate student Sasha B. Kramer and her colleagues found that fertilizing apple trees with synthetic chemicals produced more adverse environmental effects than feeding them with organic manure or alfalfa.
"The intensification of agricultural production over the past 60 years and the subsequent increase in global nitrogen inputs have resulted in substantial nitrogen pollution and ecological damage," Kramer and her colleagues write. "The primary source of nitrogen pollution comes from nitrogen-based agricultural fertilizers, whose use is forecasted to double or almost triple by 2050."
Nitrogen compounds from fertilizer can enter the atmosphere and contribute to global warming, adds Harold A. Mooney, the Paul S. Achilles Professor of Environmental Biology at Stanford and co-author of the study.
"Nitrogen compounds also enter our watersheds and have effects quite distant from the fields in which they are applied, as for example in contaminating water tables and causing biological dead zones at the mouths of major rivers," he says. "This study shows that the use of organic versus chemical fertilizers can play a role in reducing these adverse effects."
Nitrogen treatments The PNAS study was conducted in an established apple orchard on a 4-acre site in the Yakima Valley of central Washington, one of the premiere apple-growing regions in the United States. Some trees used in the experiment had been raised with conventional synthetic fertilizers. Others were grown organically without pesticides, herbicides or artificial fertilization. A third group was raised by a method called integrated farming, which combines organic and conventional agricultural techniques.
"Conventional agriculture has made tremendous improvements in crop yield but at large costs to the environment," the authors write. "In response to environmental concerns, organic agriculture has become an increasingly popular option."
During the yearlong experiment, organically grown trees were fed either composted chicken manure or alfalfa meal, while conventionally raised plants were given calcium nitrate, a synthetic fertilizer widely used by commercial apple growers. Trees raised using the integrated system were given a blend of equal parts chicken manure and calcium nitrate.
Each tree was fertilized twice, in October and May, and given the same amount of nitrogen at both feedings no matter what the source—alfalfa, chicken manure, calcium nitrate or the manure/calcium nitrate blend.
Groundwater contamination One goal of the PNAS experiment was to compare how much excess nitrogen leached into the soil using the four fertilizer treatments—one conventional, two organic (manure and alfalfa) and one integrated. When applied to the soil, nitrogen fertilizers release or break down into nitrates—chemical compounds that plants need to build proteins. However, excess nitrates can percolate through the soil and contaminate surface and groundwater supplies.
Besides having detrimental impacts on aquatic life, high nitrate levels in drinking water can cause serious illness in humans, particularly small children. According to the PNAS study, nearly one in 10 domestic wells in the United States sampled between 1993 and 2000 had nitrate concentrations that exceeded the Environmental Protection Agency's drinking water standards.
To measure nitrate levels during the experiment, water was collected in resin bags buried about 40 inches below the trees and then analyzed in the laboratory. The results were dramatic. "We measured nitrate leaching over an entire year and found that it was 4.4 to 5.6 times higher in the conventional treatment than in the two organic treatments, with the integrated treatment in between," says John B. Reganold, the Regents Professor of Soil Science at Washington State University and co-author of the study.
Nitrogen gas emissions The research team also compared the amount of nitrogen gas that was released into the atmosphere by the four treatments. Air samples collected in the orchard after the fall and spring fertilizations revealed that organic and integrated soils emitted larger quantities of an environmentally benign gas called dinitrogen (N2) than soils treated with conventional synthetic fertilizer. One explanation for this disparity is that the organic and integrated soils contained active concentrations of denitrifying bacteria—naturally occurring microbes that convert excess nitrates in the soil into N2 gas. However, denitrifier microbial communities were much smaller and far less active and efficient in conventionally treated soils.
The research team also measured emissions of nitrous oxide (N2O)—a potent greenhouse gas that is 300 times more effective at heating the atmosphere than carbon dioxide gas, the leading cause of global warming. The results showed that nitrous oxide emissions were similar among the four treatments.
"We found that higher gas emissions from organic and integrated soils do not result in increased production of harmful nitrous oxide but rather enhanced emission of non-detrimental dinitrogen," Reganold says. "These results demonstrate that organic and integrated fertilization practices support more active and efficient denitrifier microbial communities, which may shift some of the potential nitrate leaching losses in the soil into harmless dinitrogen gas losses in the atmosphere."
Sustainable agricultureWashington state produces more than half of the nation's apples. In 2004, the state crop was worth about $963 million, with organically grown apples representing between 5 and 10 percent of the total value. But the results of the PNAS study may apply to other high-value crops as well, according to the authors.
"This study is an important contribution to the debate surrounding the sustainability of organic agriculture, one of the most contentious topics in agricultural science worldwide," Reganold says. "Our findings not only score another beneficial point for organic agriculture but give credibility to the middle-ground approach of integrated farming, which uses both organic and conventional nitrogen fertilizers and other practices. It is this middle-ground approach that we may see more farmers adopting than even the rapidly growing organic approach."
Adds Mooney, "Organic farming cannot provide for all of our food needs, but it is certainly one important tool for use in our striving for sustainable agricultural systems. We need to explore and utilize all possible agricultural management techniques and technologies to reduce the very large global footprint of the needs to feed a population of over 6 billion people."
Other co-authors of the PNAS study are agroecologist Jerry D. Glover of the Land Institute in Salina, Kan., and Brendan J. M. Bohannan, associate professor of biological sciences at Stanford.
The study was funded by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the National Science Foundation, the Land Institute and the Teresa Heinz Environmental Science and Policy Fellowship Program.
SOURCE: Mark Shwartz, Stanford University -->