GUYANA HAS A COMPREHENSIVE TOXIC CHEMICALS AND PESTICIDES CONTROL ACT SINCE 2000

Friday , October 9 2015, Source

The number of times the APNU+AFC Government has embarrassed themselves is simply inexcusable. They not only embarrass themselves by lying, they often show a frightening lack of knowledge of the laws of Guyana. According to the Minister in the Ministry of Health, the government is working on completing a pesticide control bill for parliament. The Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Act 2000 (Act#8 of 2000) has been implemented for almost 15 years in Guyana. It is under this ACT that the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board chaired by Dr. Leslie Monroe has been effectively bringing better control in the use of toxic substances, including pesticides, in Guyana for more than a decade. The legislation is strengthened by Regulations (#4 of 2004) and there have been several amendments. It is inexcusable for any MP or any Cabinet Member not to know that we have such legislation in place.

I was , therefore, totally flabbergasted the other day when I read that the Junior Minister in the Ministry of Health called for and said that the APNU+AFC Government will soon introduce a bill to control pesticides as a counter measure against suicide. I seriously question the efficiency and effectiveness of the APNU+AFC Government if it is true that we will soon promulgate legislation to control pesticides in Guyana. The Attorney General surely ought to have advised them that a pesticide control legislation has been implemented in Guyana since 2000. The present senior Minister of Health served on the Select Committee when the bill went through parliament in 1999/2000.

Clearly the Minister was out of touch and unfamiliar with the laws that she has a role to implement. It shows that the APNU+AFC Government generally “shoot from the hip” and simply have knee jerk responses to serious problems. They lack policy and simply do not know what they need to do.

Indeed, suicide is a major public health and social issue in Guyana, as well as globally. Furthermore, in Guyana and several other countries ingestion of pesticides is one of the major methods used in suicide. There is, therefore, a legitimate role for the control of pesticides to reduce the number of suicides in Guyana and in those countries where pesticides are the preferred tool used in suicides. The PPP Government recognized this need and we have had a program in place for more than 15 years.

What was shocking is that a Minister of Government in Guyana would have suggested that we need pesticide legislation to control pesticides in our country. In fact, Guyana enacted one of the most comprehensive pesticide control legislation in CARICOM and in developing countries. The Toxic Chemicals and Pesticides Control Act 2000 and its regulations have been extensively used in the control of toxic chemicals and pesticides in Guyana.

I served in the Special Select Committee in Parliament that the Toxic Chemical and Pesticides Control Bill was sent to. The then People’s National Congress, the predecessor of APNU+AFC, was fully represented and at least three ministers of this government sat on that select committee. Indeed, Dr. George Norton, the Minister of Health was a member of that committee. There is, thus, no excuse for APNU+AFC not to know about this law.

In addition, throughout the existence of the Pesticide Control Board, a member of the PNC(APNU) has been a director. Dr. Dagleish Joseph has been a long standing director of the Board. The Ministry of Health has a representative on the Board. The Minister ought to know that one of her senior directors at the Ministry is a director on the Pesticides Board.

But the Pesticides and Toxic Chemical Control Board has been active in implementing a large number of high profile programs in Guyana and anyone in the position of the Minister ought to know that we already have a pesticide control legislation in place.

The Junior Minister has no excuse. She was an MP when I spoke about a number of these activities and elaborated on them in Parliament during budget debates. She was also present in parliament as a Minister earlier this year during the 2015 budget presentation when Minister Holder spoke about certain activities under the Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Act.
One major activities under the PTCCA has been awareness of the safe use of pesticides and toxic chemicals to prevent suicide. The Ministry of Health had such a program since 2001 when I was Minister of Health. It was a high profile program. We collaborated with the Pesticides and Toxic Chemical Control Board. When I was Minister of Agriculture, we continued that program with leadership from the PTCCA Board.

One of the activities that we talked about extensively in the public and in Parliament was the promotion of safety cabinets with multiple locks that were distributed to farming families. In 2014, we distributed more than 100 such cabinets to farming families. The rationale was that if more than one family members control the keys to the cabinet, no one person in that family will be able to access the chemicals without other family members not knowing.

The PTCCA Board is the responsible agency for the implementation of the Stockholm Convention and the Rotterdam Convention Programs. It is under these conventions that there is restrictive use of DDT in Guyana. All of the pesticides that are controlled, restricted and banned under the Stockholm Convention and Rotterdam Convention are also restricted and banned in Guyana, with the exception of monocrtophos. For monocrotophos, there is a phased banning process. At the moment, there is restrictive use.

Incidentally, all the pesticides and toxic chemicals banned and or restricted are gazetted and, therefore, should be familiar to all ministers and MPs, particularly the Ministers in health and Agriculture, since these ministries have important functions under the law.

Guyana, in fact, is the only country in CARICOM and one of a very few of developing countries around the world that is in compliance with the Stockholm and Rotterdam Conventions to which we are all signatories. During the PPP Government’s terms in office, we ensured that we were in compliance, as far as possible with the global environmental agreements. It was part of the green world we tried to ensure and consistent with a low carbond development model.

I am supportive of even greater control than we presently have. While importation is strictly controlled, smuggling of illegal chemicals into Guyana is still fairly widespread. Stricter enforcement programs are necessary. The laws are already in place.

In addition, there is an access to pesticides and toxic chemicals that need to be better controlled. Because we are an agriculture country, we need to ensure local access. But we have to enforce the rules of how people access these chemicals for purchase.

There is also need for safer use of pesticides and toxic chemicals in our country. National awareness and education programs must be strengthened and we must promote better safety programs for families.

These programs will benefit and respond to several serious challenges Guyana and the world face. We can have a safer and cleaner environment, but we can tackle challenges such as suicide with these programs. These are other actions will help alleviate the suicide challenge in Guyana. While the Minister’s lack of knowledge is inexcusable, I support sterner actios to control the use of pesticides in Guyana as an anti-suicide measure.

Dr. Leslie Ramsammy