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Group urges PRC to drop complaint vs doctors |
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Sunstar Davao
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Sunday, 01 August 2010 |
THE National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying (NTFAAS) called on the Professional Regulations Commission (PRC) to drop the complaints filed against doctors who conducted a study on effects of aerial spray to public health.
“We call upon the Professional Regulatory Commission to act judiciously on the part of the complaint by business interest against public health servants whose primary duty under our Constitution is to uphold citizens’ right to health," NTFAAS head Rene Pineda said in a statement.
Dr. Romeo Quijano, a professor at the University of the Philippines in Manila and 10 other doctors from the Department of Health (DOH) and one engineer were subjects of the complaint for “alleged unethical conduct during the conduct of the health study.”
The study, which was conducted in 2006, found that 82 percent of the respondents from Sitio Camocaan in Hagonoy, Davao del Sur were exposed to aerially sprayed pesticides; 52 percent of whom exhibit symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning. Pesticide was found in the residents' blood samples and in air and soil samples in the community.
The doctors said in their affidavits that the health assessment was done with the knowledge of all stakeholders including Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) and with the consent of pre-selected residents.
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SCIENTIST HARASSMENT SUIT |
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Press Release, National Task Force Against Aerial Spray
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Sunday, 18 July 2010 |
Pesticide Action Network Asia and the Pacific (PAN AP) strongly condemns the latest move by banana companies in the Philippines to harass health rights defenders in an attempt to derail the campaign to ban the aerial spraying of pesticides in Southern Philippines.
Last January 5, 2010, a complaint was filed with the regional office of the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) against Dr. Romeo Quijano, a professor at the University of the Philippines Manila and president of the PAN Philippines, as well as 10 other doctors and one engineer. Two local officials who claimed to represent several residents of Sitio Kamukhaan (Camocaan) in the town of Hagonoy, Davao del Sur province complained against the alleged unethical conduct the committed by Dr. Quijano and doctors who conducted a scientific study commissioned by the government’s Department of Health (DOH) on the impact of aerial spraying of an adjacent banana plantation on the residents’ health.
The DOH study, conducted in 2006, found that 82 percent of respondents from Kamukhaan were indirectly exposed to aerially sprayed pesticides; 52 percent of whom exhibit symptoms of acute pesticide poisoning. It was used as a basis for the DOH to recommend in 2009 a ban on aerial spraying of pesticides. Earlier, the Davao City council passed a resolution to enact the ban, but banana companies led by the Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) opposed this in court, and the matter is now pending with the Supreme Court.
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Calls growing to scrap aerial spraying of bananas in Philippines |
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Dario Agnote, KYODO News Agency
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Wednesday, 16 June 2010 |
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DAVAO CITY, Philippines, June 16 Kyodo - The Philippine government is being forced to make a tough choice between its drive for export dollars and its responsibility to protect the public's health as public opposition to aerial spraying of pesticides continues to mount.
Anti-aerial pesticide spray campaigners want to enlist Japanese consumers in their campaign to permanently ban aerial spraying of pesticides on bananas, since 45 percent of Philippine bananas are exported to Japan.
''We want to reach out to Japanese consumers to help us in putting pressure on banana planters to abandon aerial spraying of pesticides,'' said Lia Jasmin Esquillo, executive director of the nongovernmental organization Interface Development Interventions.
''These companies know only the language of money. If their pockets are hurt they will stop,'' she said.
Esquillo is urging Japanese consumers to write letters to Japanese fruit and vegetable importer Sumifru Corp. and to the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry ''to force them to take action against (Philippine) banana imports which have been produced with aerial spraying.''
Green activists, including farmers, are calling for banana planters to abandon aerial spraying of fungicides on banana farms in the southern island of Mindanao after government-commissioned research highlighted a link between illness and pesticide use among farmers living in or near plantations.
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Groups hail SC ruling on procedures for envi cases |
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Sunstar Davao
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Friday, 16 April 2010 |
DAVAO CITY - Various environmental groups in Davao City hailed the newly released guidelines formulated by the Supreme Court on the Rules of Procedure for Environmental Cases.
Released on Wednesday,the document is expected to hasten the resolution of environmental cases because under the procedures, the high court is expected to act on the petitions involving environmental cases within 60 days.
Lia Esquillo, IDIS Executive Director, lauded the move as a timely Earth Day gift from the Supreme Court.
Idis, or Interfaith Development Interventions, is among environmental groups that actively campaigning for the ban on aerial spraying as an agricultural practice in industrial plantations.
“With the new rules, more novel tools are now available for us to defend our environmental rights that have been routinely trampled upon by big corporations.”, she said.
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7 PRESIDENTIAL BETS WANT BAN ON AERIAL SPRAY |
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Mindanao Times, with a report from Emilord P. Castromayor
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Saturday, 10 April 2010 |
A survey conducted by Greenpeace Southeast Asia and the Ecowaste Coalition revealed that seven of the nine presidential candidates are in favor of total ban of aerial sprayin in banana plantations nationwide.
The 2010 Green Electoral Initiative asked the candidates the question: “ Are you FOR or AGAINST the position of the Department of Health recommending that the practice of aerial spraying of agrochemicals in banana plantations be stopped?”
Among the participating candidates, the answers of Nicanor Perlas and Senator Richard Gordon showed their good grasp of the issue, the National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying statement sent to the Times said. Perlas said he will promote a sustainable agriculture approach to pest and disease management to protect the health of the communities and ecosystem.
"Most of the pesticides sprayed by plane do not reach the target pest. If they do, the pests develop immunity. The immunity requires the use of even more dangerous pesticides.", he said. adding that the immunity will only create "super pests" that are more difficult to kill.
Gordon, meanwhile, said aerial spraying "forces people to inhale toxins against their will."
“A plantation owner who uses pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers on his own property can arguably be within his rights to do so, but when it enters the public realm and affects other people or the environment, he causes an injury that government is obligated to prevent.” he said.
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SPECIAL REPORT: The “Presidentiables” and Mindanao 2010-2016 (6): Goin’, Growin’ Bananas |
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Carolyn O. Arguillas, MindaNews
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Friday, 09 April 2010 |
DAVAO CITY -- The latest Green Electoral Initiative survey of Greenpeace Southeast Asia and Ecowaste Coalition shows that seven of the nine Presidential candidates have expressed their support for the outright ban of aerial spraying in banana plantations, with the answers of environmentalist Nicanor Perlas and Senator Richard Gordon standing out as “having the most clear and progressive position on the issue.”
In a press statement, the National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying said the GEI survey question was: “Are you FOR or AGAINST the position of the Department of Health recommending that the practice of aerial spraying of agrochemicals in banana plantations be stopped?”
Perlas will “ban aerial spraying of hazardous chemicals especially on banana plantations” and will instead promote “sustainable agriculture approaches to pest and disease management that will adequately protect crops from damage, while protecting the health of communities and ecosystems.”
Gordon said aerial spraying “forces people to inhale toxins against their will,” he said. “A plantation owner who uses pesticides, fungicides and fertilizers on his own property can arguably be within his rights to do so, but when it enters the public realm and affects other people or the environment, he causes an injury that government is obligated to prevent.”
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