Fruits of poison
PEOPLE living in the cities of Pakistan are consuming fruits and vegetables heavily contaminated with pesticides, says Inayatullah Chaudhry, advisor for sustainable development at the United Nations' Development Programme (undp) in Islamabad.
The government has never shown any inclination to address the issue, but it may soon be forced to do so. New quality and environmental standards, which are becoming mandatory under the World Trade Organisation (wto), are forcing the government to get its act together.
Heavy pesticide use on fruits and vegetables is leaving behind an equally heavy residue, thereby poisoning consumers slowly, warns Yusouf Hayat, director of Eco-toxicology Research Laboratories, National Agricultural Research Centre (narc), Islamabad. Scientists say pesticide residue in a fruit or vegetable is usually too small to alter its taste.
The United Nations' Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific (unescap) defines pesticide residue as that fraction of a pesticide which, as a result of its practical use, has found its way into the produce or soil and is present either in the form or a parent compound, or significant degradation products.
The problem of pesticide residues in fruits and vegetables is a fallout of the environmental havoc created by pesticides. "Orchards and vegetables are now coming under severe pest attacks by formerly harmless creatures. This is providing an incentive to farmers to increase spraying,' says Wali Muhammad Chaudhry, professor emeritus of entomology at the Agricultural University of Faisalabad.
Pesticide residue analysis is a specialised field requiring highly trained technicians and expensive laboratory facilities and regents. "A single test to check residue of one pesticide costs around Rs 5,000 in chemicals and regents alone,' says Yusouf Hayat Khan of NARC.
Moreover, the measurement in most monitoring programmes is limited to intact pesticides. This means the primary degradation products, often as harmful