By Joanie Bergh
“It’s not just me who is poisoned, but my kids on the farm too.”
These are the words of a 34-year-old mother of four minor children, who has been working on a fruit farm outside Grabouw for the past 12 years. She is one of several women working on farms in the area who are urgently calling for a ban on the “highly dangerous and toxic” pesticide, cyanamide, manufactured under the brand name Dormex.
The women, who are part of the non-governmental organisation Women on Farms Project (WFP), recently marched to Philagro, a company in Somerset West that distributes agricultural chemicals. There, the women handed over a memorandum expressing their concerns about the pesticide.
Philagro distributes cyanamide locally on behalf of the German company Alzchem.
As early as 2008, cyanamide was banned in the European Union because of serious health risks. It is one of 67 pesticides on which a ban on the production, export and use has been imposed. Yet, cyanamide is still distributed and used in some countries, such as South Africa.
“The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) conducted research in 2019 and found that 67 pesticides already banned in Europe are still exported and used in South Africa,” the organisation said. “We request that the South African government also ban these pesticides, and demand that Alzchem stop producing and exporting pesticides that are banned in the EU. It’s harmful to human health.”
The women argue that farm workers in South Africa, most of whom are women, are regularly exposed to pesticides that are banned elsewhere in the world.
According to the WFP, they are particularly exposed to Dormex/cyanamide without proper training, protective equipment, and access to water to wash their hands. “In 2010, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) found that even when proper protective equipment, such as masks, gloves, visors, hoods and rubber boots, is used, workers’ exposure can exceed acceptable levels by up to 6433%.”
Philagro comment
Schalk Reynolds, managing director of Philagro, confirmed receipt of the memorandum to African Farming and when asked, said they would investigate and evaluate it before providing feedback to the WFP by 30 June. He said cyanamide is not banned throughout the European Union, but is still used in the agricultural sector in Portugal and Greece.
“Although Philagro distributes cyanamide locally on behalf of Alzchem, there are also six other generic products available in South Africa.”
He said they provide full training, safety equipment and guidelines to use the product and that it is the responsibility of everyone in the value chain to follow the safety measures.
