{"id":22598,"date":"2017-12-14T22:48:31","date_gmt":"2017-12-14T21:48:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/edu.danwatch.dk\/?post_type=undersgelse&p=22598"},"modified":"2017-12-15T11:42:44","modified_gmt":"2017-12-15T10:42:44","slug":"danske-bananer-kan-vaere-sproejtet-med-livsfarlige-pesticider","status":"publish","type":"undersgelse","link":"https:\/\/edu.danwatch.dk\/en\/undersoegelse\/danske-bananer-kan-vaere-sproejtet-med-livsfarlige-pesticider\/","title":{"rendered":"Danish bananas may be sprayed with highly toxic pesticides"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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A Danwatch INVESTigation<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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A Danwatch investigation<\/h6>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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In brief\u00a0<\/h2>

Danwatch interviewed 34 banana workers, pilots, and family members of those sickened or killed by pesticides, and presented our documentation to experts in pesticide use and doctors familiar with pesticide poisoning in Ecuador.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Pesticides in Ecuadorean banana production<\/b><\/h2>

Danwatch acquired a list of the 26 most commonly-used pesticides in Ecuador\u2019s banana-growing regions. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>

The list is a compilation of data from the Ministry of Agriculture in Ecuador and a list of pesticides from the Pesticide Action Network. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>

[popup_trigger id=”22625″ tag=”span”]See the list[\/popup_trigger]<\/span><\/p>

These data were then processed by environmental engineer Alexander Naranjo. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Experts confirm that these pesticides are in widespread use in Ecuadorean banana production. We asked Danish pesticide experts to evaluate the chemicals\u2019 toxicity.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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The poison comes from the sky.<\/span><\/p>

This is what some of the workers on Ecuador\u2019s banana plantations told Danwatch.<\/span><\/p>

From small crop-dusting aircraft, pesticides and fungicides are sprayed over miles of banana plantations and anything that may lie between them: villages, schools full of children playing, and the banana workers themselves. \u00a0Everything is coated with a fine layer of sticky dust when, approximately once a week and without warning, the planes spray the bananas.<\/span><\/p>

And the poison that comes from the sky <\/span>is<\/span><\/i> highly toxic. \u00a0According to a new report from Acci\u00f3n Ecol\u00f3gica, of the 26 chemicals that were most commonly sprayed on Ecuador\u2019s banana plantations in 2017, seven are illegal for use in the EU. \u00a0The Danish Ministry of Environment and Food, meanwhile, says that eighteen of the pesticides on the list are illegal in Denmark. \u00a0Experts tell Danwatch that, in many cases, this is because they are dangerous to the people who must work with them. <\/span><\/p>

Several scientific studies link a number of these spray pesticides with cancer, birth defects, and higher mortality rates \u2013 and in the banana-growing provinces of Ecuador, these conditions are markedly more prevalent than in the rest of the country.<\/span><\/p>

Ecuador\u2019s three banana provinces \u2013 Guayas, Los R\u00edos, and El Oro \u2013 share a toxic first-place distinction. \u00a0They are not only the hub of banana production in a country that exports more bananas than any other in the world, they are also at the top of Ecuador\u2019s rankings for children born with birth defects, according to national statistics from 2012.<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Toxic pesticides<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Several studies document a health risk by living close to and working with pesticides in Ecuador’s banana production<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Increased risk of cancer<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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So big is the cancer risk in the banana producing provinces against a 2.4 percent risk in general in Ecuador.<\/p>

Source:\u00a0Defensor\u00eda del Pueblo, 2007<\/a>\u00a0and environmental organization\u00a0Acci\u00f3n Ecol\u00f3gica, 2007<\/a><\/h5>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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Children born with defects<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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of children born in the banana-producing provinces are born with malformations. At a national level the figure is 0.22%<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Children born with mental handicaps<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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of the children in the El Oro province are born with a mental disability due to genetic damage. The national level is 0.19%.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Two pesticide experts, environmental engineer Alexander Naranjo and health geographer Patricia Polo Almeida, say that the 26 pesticides on the list are in widespread use in Ecuadorian banana production. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>

Unless the bananas are organic, some combination of these pesticides are sprayed on all Ecuadorean bananas sold in Danish supermarket chains. Coop, Meny, Spar, Aldi and Lidl all tell Danwatch that they import conventional bananas from Ecuador.<\/span><\/p>

Coop, Aldi and Lidl respond furthermore that all the conventional bananas they sell are certified by the Rainforest Alliance, an environmental sustainability organisation. \u00a0As we shall see later, however, this is no guarantee that the most dangerous pesticides are not used in their production. <\/span><\/p>

Crop-dusting over people is not acceptable<\/b><\/h4>

We asked Helle Raun Andersen, an associate professor in environmental medicine at the University of Southern Denmark, to examine the list of the twenty-six most common pesticides in Ecuador, as well as Danwatch\u2019s photos from the banana plantations.<\/span><\/p>

Raun Andersen notes that when a pesticide is not approved for use in the EU or Denmark, this may be because approval may not yet have been sought for the chemical. \u00a0But she emphasises that all pesticides are dangerous if they are not handled correctly, and that some indeed are prohibited in Denmark because they are too dangerous. \u00a0Of these, she points to three specific examples from the list: terbufos, cadusafos and chlorpyrifos. <\/span><\/p>

\u201cThese are insect sprays with relatively high acute toxicity, so there is concern about injury to those working with them. \u00a0The last of them were banned in Denmark around 2011. \u00a0They are neurotoxins \u2013 from a chemical point of view, they are related to gasses used in chemical weapons \u2013 and in the worst case, you can die from exposure to them via the skin, inhalation, or getting them into your body by other means.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Erik J\u00f8rs, an associate professor in occupational medicine at the University of Southern Denmark, agrees. <\/span><\/p>

\u201cSome of these substances are acutely toxic and have been prohibited for that reason (cadusafos, terbufos and paraquat). Others are less acutely toxic, but are suspected of interfering with reproduction, causing harm to the developing foetus, or being carcinogenic, and are prohibited for that reason (benomyl, carbendazim, flusilazole, tridemorph),\u201d he writes.<\/span><\/p>

Raun Andersen also notes deficiencies in the safety equipment used by banana workers in photos taken by Danwatch at the plantations. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>

\u201cIf there is pesticide in that, then they should be wearing gloves and masks, which they are not. \u00a0Most of these compounds are absorbed by the skin, so the man holding that container could be breathing in small droplets, and will get it on his skin. \u00a0You can certainly be harmed by exposure to pesticides over time. \u00a0All pesticides are toxic, which is why there is so much regulation of them.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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