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.

FISHY DEATHS-Police believe it's an inside job

Wednesday September 26, 2007
By SIRA HABIBU
LANGKAWI: In what is believed to be an inside job, Langkawi Underwater World has offered a RM10,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of those responsible for poisoning about 600 fish.
Langkawi OCPD Supt Mohd Ali Jamaludin urged those with information to assist the police to bring the culprits to book as soon as possible.
“We believe the poisoning was done by insiders. It was well planned.
“We suspect two or more people were involved,” he said, adding that the crime had affected Langkawi’s highly-valued tourism product.
It was reported that about 600 fish worth hundreds of thousands of ringgit were found dead in two large tanks and five smaller tanks of the old wing of UWL on Monday.
Among the valuable fish that died were sharks including the white tip, black tip, leopard and nurse, and variety of stingrays including the rare cownose ray.
“The fish started dying en masse at about 6.40pm just as the lights were switched off,” he said when contacted on Wednesday.
Police have ruled out outsiders’ involvement because the inlets to the tanks were accessible only to UWL staff.
Supt Mohd Ali also noted several weaknesses in the security system at the old wing including absence of CCTV and free accessibility to all personnel.
He said police had taken water and carcass samples for analysis and the results would be known within a week.
“The chemical used could be petroleum,” he said.
The case is being investigated under Section 429 of the Penal Code for treason. If found guilty the offender is liable to a minimum fine of RM25,000 and or jailed up to five years.

Utara: Paya bakau musnah

Oleh Mohd Feroz Abu Bakar

Hutan Simpan Tanjung Burung terima kesan kegiatan keringkan air laut untuk projek komersial

PANTAI REMIS: Kawasan hutan paya bakau seluas kira-kira 70 hektar di Hutan Simpan Tanjung Burung dekat sini, musnah sepenuhnya berikutan tindakan pihak tidak bertanggungjawab menggali parit bagi mengeringkan air laut. Kerja pengeringan air laut itu bermula kira-kira dua tahun lalu dipercayai untuk memberi laluan kepada projek rumah kediaman dan bangunan komersial.

Persatuan Alam Sekitar Perak mendapati pokok bakau dengan ketinggian kira-kira 10 meter di kawasan itu yang berusia sekurang-kurangnya 20 tahun mati secara semula jadi kerana penyejatan air dalam tanah. Setiausaha Kehormat persatuan itu, Meor Razak Abdul Rahman, berkata kemusnahan pokok bakau itu turut merosakkan rantaian makanan untuk burung tepi pantai dan sumber makanan ikan pinggir laut berhampiran Kampung Sungai Batu. "Bekas paya bakau yang kering-kontang itu kini ditumbuhi rumput dan pokok piai yang tidak memberi sumbangan kepada rantaian makanan untuk haiwan terutama ikan tepi pantai," katanya ketika ditemui di sini, semalam.

Hutan Simpan Tanjung Burung adalah hutan simpan kekal seluas lebih 900 hektar sepanjang pantai antara Manjung dengan Changkat Jering. Kawasan paya bakau itu bersempadan dengan Hutan Simpan Segari Melintang di selatan dengan Hutan Simpan Larut-Matang di utara.

Berita Harian di Hutan Simpan Tanjung Burung mendapati kawasan paya bakau yang dikeringkan itu terletak tidak sampai satu kilometer dari pekan Pantai Remis. Berdasarkan peta topografi Jabatan Perhutanan, kawasan yang dikeringkan itu adalah blok 118 yang ditandakan oleh jabatan berkenaan, bersempadan dengan Kampung Sungai Batu yang menempatkan jeti nelayan. Meor Razak berkata, penduduk kampung berkenaan menerima kesan langsung ketika tragedi tsunami dengan semua bot dan sampan mereka terbalik atau ditolak ke darat kerana ombak kuat. "Ketika itu, hutan bakau masih wujud berhampiran kampung mereka dan mampu menjadi penampan kepada gelombang air laut yang kuat. "Tetapi, sekarang semua pokok bakau berdekatan Kampung Sungai Batu sudah mati dan tiada apa yang mampu menjadi penampan jika berlaku tsunami sekali lagi," katanya. Meor Razak berkata, kemusnahan pokok bakau berhampiran Kampung Sungai Batu itu dikhuatiri akan turut menjejaskan sistem ekologi di Hutan Simpan Segari Melintang di selatan Hutan Simpan Tanjung Burung.

Our right to convert forests

By FOO YEE PING

NEW YORK: Malaysia has maintained its right to convert forests to other land uses such as agriculture although it acknowledges that deforestation may lead to climate change.
Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar told a special meeting of Tropical Rainforest Countries’ Leaders here on Monday: “It is to our own interest to conserve and manage our forest resources on a sustainable basis.”

He said Malaysia, just like other developing countries, should not be denied the right to development particularly to fulfil its obligation to eradicate poverty.

He added that Malaysia was blessed with relatively large tracts of natural tropical forests, which covered almost 60% of its total land area.

He stressed that any approach to resolve the problem of climate change must consider the differences between developed and developing countries.

“Developed countries have already reached a stage in their economic development where they should reduce emission of greenhouse gases,” he said.

At a separate meeting on climate change, Syed Hamid called on developed nations to take the lead on finance and economics in fighting climate change.

“Although much has been said about the need for more financing, the sad fact is that this has not been forthcoming.

“Many of the funds set up for these purposes come with conditions that sometimes render it impossible for some developing countries to receive any financing in their struggle to adapt to climate change.”

Speaking to Malaysian journalists later, Syed Hamid said there was consensus that climate change problems must be dealt with at a multilateral level and within the ambit of the United Nations.

He also said that Asean must have a uniform policy and act collectively to protect its natural resources.

Malaysia, he added, was working with Brunei and Indonesia to protect the heart of Borneo.

Alternative Methods Proposed To Detect Pesticides And Antibiotics In Water And Natural Food

Science Daily — Water or food of natural origins (from plants or animals) that we consume on a daily basis can contain unwanted ‘supplies’ for our organism, such as pesticides or antibiotics.

Research forms part of several projects financed by the Spanish National Institute for Agrarian and Alimentary Research (INIA) and the Ministry of Education and Science, in collaboration with the company Puleva Biotech.

A doctoral thesis carried out by Jorge Juan Soto Chinchilla, from the Department of Analytical Chemistry at the University of Granada (Universidad de Granada), and directed by professors Ana María García Campaña and Laura Gámiz Gracia, proposes new analysis methods for the detection of pesticide residue (carbamates) and antibiotic residue (sulfonamides) in water, plant foods and food of animal origin (milk and meats from varied sources). These new methods constitute a routine analysis alternative to the analysis used until now.

The main goal of the work “New analytical methodologies, under quality criteria, for the determination of pharmaceutical residues in waters and food”, carried out by the research group “Quality in Food, Environmental and Clinical Analytical Chemistry (FQM-302)”, has been to develop new methods to detect residues in food of these contaminants below the Maximum Residue Levels (MRL) established by the European Union, in order to guarantee the quality of the product and permit its distribution and consumption.

Researchers point out, regarding water, that “the interest caused by control of residue levels of pesticides, which can be found in water as a result of treatment of crops with such compounds, is widely known. ”However, concern on detecting pharmaceutical residue, specifically antibiotic, is quite recent. The presence of these contaminants in fresh waters can cause a certain bacterial resistance or allergic reactions in the consuming population.

Innovative techniques

In order to achieve this, the study carried out by the UGR used techniques that have not been much explored in these fields. Cathodoluminiscence detection (CL) connected to Flow Injection Analysis (FIA) and High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPCL), or Capillary Electrophoresis (CE) with UV/Vis detection using an online preconcentration technique in the capillary itself, or detection via Mass Spectometry (MS). MS can also unequivocally identify the analysed compounds. Research has been specifically based on carbamates, a widely used pesticide family, and on sulfonamides, a group of wide-spectrum antibiotics commonly used in medicine and veterinary science.

Researchers point out that methods developed in this work could be applied in the future to routine analysis for this kind of residue control in plant foods and foods of animal origin, in Quality and Alimentary Safety laboratories, or in the detection of such contaminants in waters of varied sources. “These methods definitely constitute interesting alternatives to the already established and less sensitive methods which imply a greater consumption of organic solvents and generate more contaminant residues,” the author of the thesis points out.

FQM-302 research group has been working on the proposal of methods of detecting contaminant residues in foods and in the environment for several years. Currently work is being carried out in different doctoral theses which looks at the study of other pesticide families and their degradation products, as well as the study of other antibiotics such as quinolones and beta-lactams using the methods mentioned above.

Results of this work have been published in the following journals: ‘Analytica Chimica Acta’, ‘Journal of Chromatography’, ‘Trends in Analytical Chemistry’ and ‘Electrophoresis’.

Characteristics of Biopesticides

Characteristics of Biopesticides

Biopesticides are quickly emerging as important tools in reducing pesticide use and risk. Pesticide users have expressed such interest in these pesticides that EPA created a special division called the Biopesticides and Pollution Prevention Division, tospeed up the registration of biopesticides. Biopesticides generally exhibit the following characteristics:
* They have a narrow target range and highly-specific mode of action;
* They are slow acting;
* They suppress (rather than eliminate) pest populations;
* Timing of application is relatively critical;
* There is limited field persistence and shelf life;
* They are often used as part of Integrated Pest Management programs;
* They are generally safer to humans and the environment than conventional pesticides; and,
* They usually present no residue problems.

There are two types of biopesticides, biochemical and microbial. Biochemical pesticides are structurally similar to, and functionally identical to, a naturally occurring counterpart, and have a nontoxic mode of action. An example of a biochemical pesticide includes pheromones. Pheromones are naturally-occurring chemicals that insects use to find mates. Chemically synthesized pheromones can disrupt insect mating by creating confusion during the search for mates, or by attracting insects to traps.

Microbial pesticides are naturally-occurring or genetically altered bacteria, fungi, algae, viruses, or protozoans that suppress pests by either producing a toxin specific to the pest, causing disease, preventing establishment of pest microorganisms through competition, or other modes of action. Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) is an example of a microbial pesticide. B.t. is a naturally-occurring soil bacterium that is toxic to the larvae of several species of insects but virtually nontoxic to nontarget organisms. B.t. is applied foliarly, or incorporated into the genetic material or crops, including B.t. corn and B.t. cotton. About 10-14 million acres of B.t. corn will be available for 1998 nationwide. In 1997, growers planted approximately 2 million acres of B.t. cotton. That number could double in 1998.