Baraza

Category: Kenya, Poisoning wildlife, WildlifeDirect news, conservation, furadan | Date: Jun 10 2009 | By: Maina

NAIROBI, Kenya - 10 June 2009. While Kenyans have decried the unprecedented killing of more than 75 lions by pastoralists using Furadan as was recently highlighted in the local and global media, Conservationists now say that the plight of wild birds, which are being poisoned in their thousands, has been overlooked.

The conservationists, who convened in Nairobi on 9 June 2009 at the invitation of the Nairobi-based NGO, WildlifeDirect, said that despite raising the alarm in April 2008, the Pest Control Products Board, which is charged with licensing of pesticides, has not responded. The Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has however agreed to investigate the matter immediately.

Furadan, a carbofuran-based pesticide and nematicide is among the most lethal pesticides known today. The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has already revoked all food tolerances due to the alarming mortality of birds it caused when used on crops. Furadan was banned earlier in the EU, and Canada is considering a total ban.

The most noticeable bird deaths in Kenya have been those of vultures. The KWS records show that 252 vultures have been confirmed dead due to Furadan since 1995. ‘This is just a tip of the iceberg’ said raptor expert Munir Virani of the Peregrine Fund. ‘We have already lost the Egyptian Vulture’, he adds.

Vultures, which consume almost 70% of all dead animals, are in real danger of going extinct. ‘In Laikipia District these days, I see carcases lying out in the sun and in plain view but without vultures feeding on them’ said Laurence Frank of Living with Lions, ‘the carcases can remain rotting out there for days’.

On 25 May 2009, 40 vultures were killed in the world-renowned Masai Mara National Reserve in an incident that also resulted in the death of an 8-month-old lion cub and several hyenas. Scores of other bird species are also dying in their thousands in Kenya’s irrigation schemes. KWS reports that birds such as Fulvous ducks, White-faced Tree Duck, Knob-billed duck, Egyptian Geese, Ibis, Egrets, Spoonbills, Back-winged stilts, Storks, and many raptors have been poisoned in quantities that they only describe as ‘pickup truck loads’.

A Kenyan researcher Martin Odino has documented that wetland birds are being poisoned in rice growing areas for human consumption.  Preliminary results from Odino’s ongoing survey show that large quantities of birds are being poisoned and sold as food. Dino Martins, a Harvard PhD candidate has also reported Furadan use in fishing on Lake Victoria. These situations expose humans to this deadly chemical.

Back in the mid-1990s widespread poisoning of ducks in the Mwea rice scheme in easern Kenya gave rise to protests by bird conservation groups were leading to the ban of furadan use in Rice. ‘We stopped using Furadan in Mwea in 1998 after we witnessed its residual effect and its high instances of abuse’, Raphael Wanjogu, the Principal Research Officer at the Mwea Irrigation Agricultural Development center, told WildlifeDirect. ‘We told our farmers to use Sumithion instead’. Despite this, Odino says that deliberate bird poisoning using Furadan is a daily occurrence.

In the US, millions of birds have been poisoned in areas where Furadan was used. Recently, the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) banned all tolerances of carbofuran on food. Canada is also looking to outlaw the use of Furadan. ‘Canada reported 70-100 million birds being poisoned by carbofurans’, says Laurence Frank.

Due to lion poisoning, many Kenyan Members of Parliament (MP) supported Navasha MP, Honourable John Mututho’s call to ban Furadan when the issue was discussed in parliament on Tuesday, 2 June 2009. The Minister for Forestry and Wildlife said that Kenya was going to ban this lethal chemical. The question remains whether the government will ban it in time - before the wildlife of Kenya becomes extinct and human fatalities emerge.

The MPs also asked the government to sue FMC for compensation for lions killed with Furadan. Although the Minister was noncommittal on this issue, he said the ministry would assist individuals who have plans to do so.

Now conservationists are calling to call for a total ban on Furadan. ‘We are being bogged down to produce forensic evidence of Furadan poisoning, but we have sufficient confessions to show that carbofuran, and specifically Furadan, is responsible for this poisoning,’ says Darcy Ogada, a researcher with Nature Kenya.

‘Human consumption of Furadan-poisoned birds in Bunyala rice scheme represents a ticking time bomb’, said renowned Kenyan conservationist, Dr Richard Leakey, ‘let’s get Furadan banned before we start losing people.’

Tags: Africa, birds, conservation, furadan, Kenya, vultures, wildlife poisoning

2 responses so far

Category: Lions, Mara Triangle, Poisoning wildlife, furadan, national parks | Date: Jun 04 2009 | By: paula

Will Kenya ban Furadan? That’s the big question that many are asking.

In the wake of the latest lion poisoning incident in the Masai Mara, the Kenyan Parliament on Thursday responded angrily to the response of the Kenyan Minister for Wildlife on the issue of whether to ban Furadan. He informed the house that the manufacturers had withdrawn the pesticide, thus suggesting there was no need. He also shifted the responsibility for bannng the product to the Minister for Agriculture. Parliamentarians were furious, stamped their feet and yelled in protest.We have been talking to friends all over the country and nobody can find Furadan in a shop anywhere, though a number of people have said that Agrovets have admitted to having a stash behind the counter that they will sell only to trusted ‘friends’.

Even though the Furadan buy back seems successful, everyone knows that the withdrawal of Furadan from Kenya is just not going to be good enough

Here are three reasons why

• First FMC reserves the right to reintroduce Furadan at any time
• Secondly, a ban provides that much needed platform for awareness about the dangers of this pesticide. Furadan is said to be the pesticide of choice for pest control and is used to control moles, baboons, lions, elephants and even termites by uniformed farmers and pastoralists. Even when used according to the label, the EPA says that carbofuran is not safe enough for highly regulated American farmers, consumers and wildlife.  If it’s not safe enough for people in USA, then it’s certainly not safe enough for poorly regulated and largely uneducated Kenyan farmers.
• Thirdly FMC does not have the monopoly on carbofuran pesticides. It is now manufactured by a number of firms in China, India and Pakistan. These companies can easily fill the market in Kenya.

We give John Mututho, MP for Naivasha and Chair of the Parliamentary Committee Two thumbs up for his courageous efforts to have Carbofuran banned. We congratulate him for getting this issue into public debate, and we wish him full success in winning this battle.

We also congralate KWS for their swift action  following the recent lion, hyena and vulture poisoning inciden in the Masai Mara on May 25th. Like KWS, we highly suspect  Furadan to be the pesticide. One Mara resident stated ‘it’s certainly Furadan, it’s the only poison that is used here to eradicate pests’.

We regret that the poisoning incidents are tarnishing Kenyas name, and makes the Masai Mara seem like a place where the local community are at constant conflict with wildlife. Things couldn’t be further from the truth. Most of the local communities benefit tremendously from tourism here and  value lions higly as the most sought after species for visitors. Indeed, tourism revenues even pay for their cattle which represents their wealth. However, there is a drought and cattle are being driven into the protected areas in search of grazing. This is illegal and the authorities are trying to enforce the law, but there landscape is vast and are a few individuals slip past the patrols. This is when cattle get taken and pastoralists sometimes lose their pateince when a cow gets taken by a lion. Furadan is a convenient way of disposing of the lions, it is very cheap, tasteless, and has no smell. Only a few grains will kill a lion. It usually kills much more than the intended targets.

The local communities are not at all happy about these incidents and are pleased with the arrest of the culprit. They have regularly appealed for help in reducing the wildlife livestock conflict. This is an opportunity for conservationists and many of our partners have come up with innovative approaches from guarding the lions to building re-enforced lion proof bomas for the cattle to sleep in. Support these projects to help save our lions.

Please help us to continue raising awareness to save our endangered wildlife. Thank you for all your support towards WildlifeDirect.

Tags: carbofuran, conservation, FMC, furadan, government, Kenya, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, wildlifedirect

No responses yet

Category: Africa, Poisoning wildlife, big cats, conservation | Date: Jun 03 2009 | By: Maina

In today’s national newspapers in Kenya, there were two stories about lion poisoning in the Masai Mara. One in The Standard reports the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife Services Dr Noah Wekesa saying that lions were dying in the Masai Mara and Furadan was responsible. He however referred Hon. John Mututho’s call for its ban to the Agriculture Minister and the Pesticide Control Products Board.

In the other news item appearing in the Daily Nation, the Kenya Wildlife Service, which is the custodian of Kenya’s wildlife, has accused farmers of poisoning one lion, some hyenas and 35 vultures in the Mara. The KWS said that there were traces of a pinkish substance on the carcase that was used to bait the these carnivores and scavengers.

The articles are not available online so we did the next best thing down here:

Tags: Africa, furadan, Kenya, KWS, Lions, Parliament, poisoning

4 responses so far

Category: Africa, Kenya, Poisoning wildlife, WildlifeDirect news, furadan | Date: Jun 02 2009 | By: Maina

Dr Paula Kahumbu, Executive Director of WildifeDirect was interviewed by Voice of America (VoA) today about Furadan. Paula disscussed the expected call for a total ban on Furadan by the Honourable John Mututho, Member of Parliament for Naivasha and Chair of the Parliamentary Committee on Agriculture in Tuesday’s parliament session.

Look out for the airing of the interview expected at between 1600 and 1800 UTC. It will be available in the English to Africa section of the VoA website

Look out for it.

Update:

The interview airs at Africa News Tonight at 1600 and 1800 GMT and the stream is already on www.voaafrica.com. The story has already been posted on the Website. You can already download the MP3 file or listen to the interview from the site.

Tags: FMC, furadan, Kenya, Lions, Parliament, poisoning, wildlife

No responses yet

Category: Africa, Kenya, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, big cats, conservation, furadan, predators | Date: Jun 02 2009 | By: Maina

NAIROBI, Kenya - 2 June 2009. A Kenyan legislator, Honourable John Mututho, is today expected to ask for total ban on Furadan in parliament. Hon. Mututho, who represents the Naivasha Constituency and is Chair of the Parliamentary Agricultural Committee, will ask the Minister for Forestry and Wildlife to effect a total ban on this pesticide that is reported to have killed more than 30 lions, hundreds of vultures and other animals.

Furadan is the brand name of Philadelphia-based FMC Corporation’s formulation of carbofuran-based pesticides considered to be the most lethal in their class. Available cheaply in Kenya, the pesticide is being used by local herdsmen in retaliatory poisoning of lions and other carnivores blamed of predation on their livestock.

It is more than a year ago when Kenya’s conservation icon, Dr Richard Leakey started calling for a ban on the lethal chemical that was recently the subject of a documentary by American broadcaster CBS.

On 29 April, after American broadcaster, CBS, aired a documentary about lion poisoning in Kenya in their 60 Minutes programme, the pesticide manufacturers, FMC Corporation, immediately announced the withdrawal of Furadan in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania and instructed the local distributor, Juanco Limited to immediately begin a buy-back programme in Kenya to remove all available stock from the shelves. There are only about 2100 lions left in Kenya.

The buy back programme is considered by local conservationists to be largely effective but some agro-vet stores are still hiding old stock and selling it under the counter. As a result, more than one month later, the pesticide is still reported to be causing wildlife deaths in various locations in Kenya.

On 25 May, one lion, a number of hyenas and 35 vultures are reported to have died at Olololaimutiak gate in the Masai Mara Reserve from retaliatory poisoning from a cow carcase that had been laced with poison suspected to be Furadan. The cow had been killed inside the reserve where they were grazing illegally.

These recent cases have prompted a group of Kenyan conservation organizations, including Nature Kenya to launch a campaign to push the government to ban this deadly chemical. They support of this campaign from the Naivasha Member of Parliament, Hon. Mututho is welcome. His push for the hearing of his proposal for a total ban has been postponed twice already.

On 18 March 2009 the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that ”dietary, worker, and ecological risks are unacceptable for all uses of carbofuran” and hence cancelled all tolerances for carbofuran in in food. On 11 May, they announced the total ban on these tolerances. In December 2008, the EU also effectively banned carbofurans. Canada is expected to follow suit in the near future.

American scientists concluded, in as far back as the late nineties, that there is no foreseable way that carbofurans can be used on crops without killing birds. The EPA also concuded that ‘all products containing carbofuran generally cause unreasonable adverse effects on humans and the environment and do not meet safety standards’

The Furadan problem in Kenya is therefore not only a wildlife issue but also a human health issue. A researcher, Martin Odino, who’s been monitoring Furadan use in Bunyala Rice Scheme in western Kenya reports that birds are deliberately poisoned and sold in the local market as human food.

A study on the effect of pesticide-fishing on dragonflies on Lake Victoria by a Kenyan PhD candidate at Harvard University, Dino J Martins, has also revealed that Furadan is being used widely to fish in the lake. Martin reports that HIV/AIDS orphans from the lakeside are allowed to collect the immature fish bycatch for their food thereby exposing them to this health risk.

Cases of inadequate monitoring of health risks in Kenya are not unusual and Martin Odino believes that it is just a matter of time before human deaths are reported.

WildlifeDirect has collected a wealth of background information. Anyone who needs to support Hon. Mututho on his call for the ban either by giving this issue media prescence or otherwise can get the information from us. We believe that when there is concerted effort from all those who care, Kenya’s parliament and government will be inclined to at least listen to one of their own - Hon. John Mututho.

Tags: birds, FMC, furadan, Kenya, Lions, Masai Mara, Parliament, poisoning, richard leakey, vultures, wildlife

2 responses so far

Category: Poisoning wildlife | Date: Apr 18 2009 | By: admin

Here’s a report from Dino Martins, of the Insect Committee of Nature Kenya (The East Africa Natural History Society).
April 14, 2009

SUMMARY REPORT:
PESTICIDE FISHING IN LAKE VICTORIA

The Insect Committee of the East Africa Natural History Society has been surveying
dragonfly and damselfly diversity of Lake Victoria as part of a summer course (Ecology
of the Great Lakes and the African Savannah) for ~3 years.

As part of the surveys and interaction with fishermen and people involved in the fish trade, we have found that
pesticides are widely used to fish with in certain parts of the lake (especially nearer to
urban areas or towns).

We have gathered data on the prevalence of pesticide fishing and its effect on one
indicator group of insects: dragonflies (Odonata). The prevalence and distribution of
pesticide fished areas was roughly mapped through direct observation of zones of dead
fish that appeared to have been poisoned, and through interviews with fishermen and
other local stakeholders. Diversity and distribution of dragonflies was monitored by
direct observation at different sites. We also looked at dragonfly diversity in areas that
were not pesticide fished (but fished using conventional methods) and in areas that were
protected. The results are very clear: pesticide fished bays have much reduced dragonfly
diversity. On several occasions we found numbers of dead nymphs (aquatic larval
dragonfly life-stage) floating in the water where pesticides had been used, as well as
poisoned non-commercial fish species (mainly cichlids) and other aquatic insects. We
hope to publish the results of the dragonfly survey shortly.

Pesticides are widely available in lake-side towns, such as Mwanza, and sometimes sold
in shops that deal in fishing gear and tackle. Local people were often aware of the
pesticide fishing and were concerned about this. It is apparent that it is a few
unscrupulous fishermen who use this technique and not the majority. Several different
pesticides are used, including ‘Furadan’ which is the cheapest option available in local
shops. For more information, please contact the Insect Committee of Nature Kenya.

The victims of pesticide poisoning are not only fish, invertebrates and lake biodiversity, but include innocent and vulnerable HIV orphans who are who are permitted to pick through and select poisoned fish for their own dinner.

Dino J. Martins
Chairperson, Insect Committee –Nature Kenya – EANHS, Box 4606 Nairobi

Tags: carbofurans, fishing, FMC, furadan, Kenya, Kisumu, Lake Victoria, Poisoning wildlife, richard leakey, wildlifedirect

2 responses so far

Category: Poisoning wildlife | Date: Apr 16 2009 | By: admin

What a week of ups and downs! We were so pleased when FMC announced the withdrawal of Furadan from Kenya, and welcomed the opportunity to meet a team from FMC here in Nairobi. All our colleagues came, with stacks of evidence of the damage that Furadan is causing to our lions, vultures, waterbirds and fish. We were sooo hopeful…like naive fools. Of course FMC are not really interested in wildlife per se, and we’ve been warned that their local distributor won’t give up without a fight over their deadly product. The scariest thing we heard from FMC was that they “will reintroduce Furadan once the right conditions are in place” course they wouldn’t divulge what those were.

Most of us in the meeting (represented by WWF, Nature Kenya, various bird groups, Living with Lions and others) felt that our concerns were not really being acknowledged, at least the FMC officials were not able to officially accept that their product was devastating Kenyan wildlife. We were told that the Government chemist who has analysed all our samples did not have the correct testing kit and were therefore producing false positives. The advice to us, look for another source of poison. This didn’t jive well with all the other evidence we have, eg. people admitting to using Furadan, purple grains on carcasses baited for lions, purple grains on snails for the bird hunting in Bunyala….How much more obvious does it have to be??? FMC were just as adamant that Furadan is just a name used to define any pesticide. AAARrrrrrrggghhhh it is so frustrating.

The other problem is that the government chemist charges 20$ for each sample while the other organization KEPHIS charges nearly 100$ per sample. We just don’t have the resources to analyse samples that are still in the freezer!

The meeting was fairly polite but I personally didn’t feel as if we made much headway, FMC maintain that there is no credible evidence that their product is killing Kenyan wildlife, but they do admit that there is potential and that they have withdrawn the product as a precaution. They also expressed many valid points about the alternatives, the black market and competitors flooding the market, issues we chewed on for a while.

We asked many questions – but I especially loved this cheeky one   “If you are an ethical company, why not just stop producing Furadan altogether”. Ouch. I don’t recall the answer.

FMC have a series of other meetings with the government, obviously they are more concerned about the authorities and we totally understand this. We just feel that it’s equally important that consumers and citizens have the right to information, opinions and a place on the negotiating table. Sadly, many people fear the response from the authorities - I don’t for a minute deny that our ‘officials’ and ‘leaders’ can be heavy handed. In general once elected our Kenyan leaders forgot (or perhaps never learned) what being a civil servant  is all about, Servant is the key word.

The truth is that while Furadan is misused for poisoning wildlife, even when it’s used for agriculture, it is not used safely in Kenya anyway - people do not use protective gear when applying this deadly pesticide.

KWS who admit that our lions and other predators are in trouble, are not really coming out strongly about the risks to our lions posed by Furadan. Meanwhile the Pesticide Control Products Board (PCPB have a statement that sounds like their interest is in protecting products not people or the environment.
Thankfully the public are listening though and we want to thank all of you who have written in support or donated towards our work to end the poisoning of wildlife in Africa.

What I can’t get my head around is how our government can defend the use of a chemical that is banned in Europe and for which the US EPA has found there is no safe way to use it in a country of educated people who also have excellent enforcement.  In Kenya the people who use Furadan don’t even know how to read the label and none of them use any form of protective gear. That alone should make the officials question whether it’s safe for human use.

There are rumours going around that thanks to all the negative publicity (especially the decline of lions), there is support for a Furadan ban in certain quarters of our government, so fingers crossed, perhaps we’ve reached someone who actually does care and is willing to do something about it! Our challenge will be to effect a ban on the actual chemicals not just the trade names - Carbofurans.

Keep reading right here, we’ll updated you here and on the stop wildlife poisoning blog.

Tags: carbofuran, furadan, poison prevention, poisoning, richard leakey, stop poisoning wildlife, wildlife, WildlifeDriect

7 responses so far

Category: Poisoning wildlife, richard leakey, wildlifedirect | Date: Apr 02 2009 | By: admin

Dear Friends,

I have some AMAZING  NEWS. It is rare that WildlifeDirect has such a great impact on an important story  - we have been fighting a battle to get the pesticide Furadan, which is a carbamate based poison used to kill predators banned in Kenya.

Honestly, it’s been a losing battle, the authorities here refuse to take responsibility, the Kenya Wildlife Service blames the agrochemical association and agricultural minsitry, the ministries blame the people for illegal ‘mis-use’ of the pesticide while the PCPB, the Pesticide Controle and Products Board deny that the pesticide is even being misused despite all our evidence, and those concerned with saving predators have been reporting collapsing lion and vulture populations, …frankly we almost gave up hope. When a USA based news TV programme, CBS 60 Minutes called us we agreed to do interviews and help with the program although it did not occur to us how poweful this could be. The show aired on Sunday and visitation to our website peaked on Monday, and then I recieved this note from our chairman. Richard Leakey today

Dear WildlifeDirect team

I just received a call from the CEO of the organization that manufactures Furidan. They are discontinuing supply
to all African countries where there are predators including South Africa, all of Eastern Africa. He has directed
Juanaco in Kenya and other distributors in Tanzania to  buy back all stocks held by retailers and he believes
that within 8 weeks it will be done with. He has offered to work with us to see that similar products are not taken
to Africa byers. So well done, we have another success on our list !

Richard.

Richard Leakey, FRS.

So, I’m feeling a little high now, we want to thank Anthony Kasanga and all the other the lion guardians for telling the story so poignantly, and of course for saving our lions. We also thank Martion Odino who has kept up the pressure on everyone by revealing the scale of furadan poisoning in Kenya through his research and by writing the Stop Wildlife Poisoning blog. I especially want to thank Drew and his team at CBS for following through with such a powerful story!

It’s wonderful how powerful our campaign has been, please continue to help us by circulating this information as widely as possible and supporting our blogs that are keeping wildlife safe. Let’s hope that images like these will be only in the past.

Kind regards

Paula (Executive Director WildlifeDirect)

Tags: conservation, FMC, Furada, Lions, Poisoning wildlife, richard leakey, stop wildlife poisoning, wildlifedirect

10 responses so far

Category: Poisoning wildlife | Date: Apr 28 2008 | By: admin

The ‘Stop Poisoning Wildlife’ meeting on Friday was very productive. I would like to thank all those who made donations towards the meeting and a special thank you to IFAW who also contributed. We had many more participants than we’d anticipated with almost 50 attendants - including representatives of many government agencies, conservationists, and members of the Agrochemical Association of Kenya, and three people from the company that imports Furadan, Juanco SPS.

Richard Leakey opened the meeting and reminded everyone that WildlifeDirect was only facilitating the meeting and that he wanted an open and honest forum for discussion where we all speak the truth without fear. He noted that he had been able to buy Furadan over the counter for purposes of killing wildlife and questioned whether it was adequately controlled in Kenya given it’s toxicity and danger. He wanted to discuss the impacts of Furadan on humans, livestock and wildlife, to determine if it is a problem, and if so how it could be banned.

The presentations that followed shocked us all. Laurence Frank from Living with Lions who told us that the poisoning of lions in retaliation for predation on livestock was decimating Kenya’s lion population which was estimated to be only 2,000 individuals. He reminded us that African s have always lived with lions and had ways of managing predation, but that simple economics rule; killing lions with Furadan was cheaper and more effective in the long term than building a strong holding ground and deploying dogs.

Dr. Frank advocated a complete ban on Furadan and severe penalties for crimes, as well as implementing an economically viable incentive based system for those pastoralists who do live with lions. The representative from Juanco, the importer of Furadan, was understandably defensive and questioned Dr. Franks evidence that Furadan was being used against lions in Laikipia.

Simon Thomsett who first raised our attention to the problem of wildlife poisoning, showed a very moving film about the poisoning of vultures in Athi River in 2005 some of which is on this blog.

Martin Odino from the National Museums of Kenya revealed results of a study that showed that the distributors of Furadan had little understanding of the legislation and regulatory body the Pest Control Products Board and showed that toxicology results proved that predators other ‘pests’ in Kenya were being targeted using Furadan. He suggested that it was difficult to get information from either importers or the PCPB. The PCPB representative and Juanco staff were again on the defensive insisting that nobody had come to them with information or had asked for meetings and blamed the scientists for failing to validate their results.

Dino Martins then talked about how Furadan is being used by fishermen in Western Kenya by pouring it into the lake and collecting fish as they came to the surface. These poisoned fish are filleted and marketed locally.

This system of fishing is not new, traditional herbal poisons have been used before, but the use of Furadan for this purpose is new. He showed data that suggests that it happens on a daily basis in some places, and that the local population is at risk of poisoning.

Although Juanco and the PCPB admitted knowledge of this, they denied that Furadan was the pesticide of choice and said other herbicides were much more frequently used for poisoning fish.

Then Peter Otieno of Maseno University revealed that he had conducted research and toxicology tests on vulture feet and beaks that had died after eating a carcass, and proved that carbofuran was the cause. Juanco and the PCPB questioned his methods.

The room was filled to capacity

Dr. Asuka presented results of tests conducted on the hippos and lions that recently died in the Masai Mara. She presented government chemist reports that state that they found Furadan in the stomach samples, as well as on natural vegetation and soil in the area. Once again Juanco and the PCPB challenged the results even though this was from a government chemist, and said that its’ impossible to detect a brand (Furadan), you can only detect the chemical carbofuran – it’s like naming a brand of milk in a sample, instead of saying you detected milk. I wondered why the government chemist would indicate Furadan unless there was no other source of carbofuran in Kenya. The Juanco SPS representative however claimed that carbofuran could have come from a number of sources. When asked which other sources and the proportion of carbofuran in Kenya from Furadan vs other products, they refrained from answering.

The defensive response from the agrochemical industry, Juanco SPS and the PCPB was not unexpected yet some of the members of the meeting were not happy about it. They wanted the industry and government to admit that there is a problem and to be a willing part of the solution. Many of us were surprised that such a toxic chemical can be available over the counter without proper controls or clear warnings about its toxicity. The Juanco people insisted it was an international system.

Two speakers helped us to think about a way forward. Munir Virani from the Peregrine Fund drew parallels with the situation in India where a painkiller drug was outlawed after it was shown to be the cause for massive vulture die offs.

It was important that we all remained impartial through out the meeting if we were to make any progress. Tim Snow from the Endangered Wildlife Trust who traveled from South Africa reminded us that the way forward was in a partnership with the industry and regulators. He told us that 16% of wildlife poisoning incidents in South Africa are due to carbofurans. They have a telephone hot line and have a chemical crime forum at the EWT which is funded by the chemical industry. He advised us to address the bigger issues of regulation of all Class 1A pesticides. In South Africa these are treated differently.

A number of productive conversations took place over lunch and the afternoon session of working groups resulted in a series of actions that will be implemented by a task force over coming weeks. Today Richard Leakey has spoken to the press and is calling for complete ban on the use of carbofurans in Kenya. This he says is in line with what is happening in USA and the EU.

I’m sure that this task force will have an interesting time in trying to find a solution that works for the industry and wildlife. We will keep you updated through a blog dedicated to this issue called Stop Wildlife Poisoning which will be launched this week.

Tags: , 220, 314, 330, 503, 664, 715, 754

8 responses so far

Category: Poisoning wildlife | Date: Apr 23 2008 | By: admin

We are in the final stages of planning for our big meeting on Friday. I’d like to thank everyone who has contributed to this effort so far. We are especially grateful to the International Fund for Animal Welfare, IFAW, who have helped significantly in funding this meeting. The meeting to discuss the illegal use of Furadan to poison wildlife takes place at 9.30 am at the Silversprings Hotel on Friday, and will be opened by our chairman Richard Leakey. We have been working feverishly to coordinate the numbers which keep swelling! I can’t tell you how excited yet nervous we all are that there is so much interest and concern about the use of poisons against wildlife that we have had to move the venue from our office to accommodate the 50 or so confirmed participants.

We’re especially pleased that Martin Odino from Nairobi University who has recently completed a survey on the use of Furadan in Kenya with Darcy Ogada from the National Museums of Kenya will be here to present results from a recent survey. A report that they sent us earlier reveals some alarming facts

1. Furadan use in Kenya came about with the banning of DDT and it has been argued by some that we should not ban Furadan as it would only lead to the use of yet more dangerous poisons
2. Unlike other dangerous poisons, the control of Furadan is lax and it can be obtained in virtually any agricultural chemical outlet with no documentation or permits required.
3. Furadan was banned in USA in the 1980s due to its effects on birds which ate the granules mistaking them for seed. The product is still produced in the west and exported to countries like Kenya which does not produce.
4. Furadan is one of the most lethal pesticides available, and is so effective that it is the preferred poison for pest control including cats, dogs, squirrels, predators, reptiles and birds. It is also the cheapest.
5. Most users of Furadan for purposes of poisoning pests have no idea what it is and receive it from someone else. They do not even have the instructions on how to use it.
6. Concerns about use of Furdan were raised 15 years ago in Kenya and the industry promised to look into a different formulation – this was not effected due to cost implications
7. The company that distributes Furadan in Kenya has no representative that we can reach in Kenya!

Intrigued with their claims that it is easily accessible I went shopping this morning for Furadan! I visited an agricultural chemical outlet near my home, my friend did the talking. He mentioned that jackals were killing my chickens and he needed to kill them. He was sold this packed of Furadan for Ksh 200 (about $3). He was told it was effective against anything – from rats, cats, dogs etc to lions and leopards.

We visited 3 different shops and all said the same – though one had sold out! One shop warned that if the Kenya Wildlife Service found out we could be arrested. But that didn’t stop them from selling it. None of them told us that the chemical was supposed to be used only for agricultural purposes only!

I called the distributors of Furadan in Kenya Juanco SPS Inc, who insisted that the formulation could not kill wild animals. I told them we had evidence, photos, film and dead animals. They seemed surprised that shop sellers were advising customers to use it as poison, because its against the law and because the concentration of the chemical was halved after the last complaints were heard many years ago. I sent them a report with and asked them to come to the meeting.

I then called the Pesticide Control Board and told them what had happened. They expressed shock and surprise. They had received our invitation and hadn’t responded. The call seemed to add urgency and later called their Managing Director who said she was ready to support initiatives to ensure the proper use of these chemicals. This is where there is a huge grey area - could the proper use of this chemical be dangerous to wildlife? If so then we could challenge it’s very use in Kenya. If not we need a different strategy to ensure it is not used inappropriately.

I have to admit that I’m feeling quite anxious yet hopeful about this meeting. I’m aware that it could go horribly wrong, we could all end up arguing and fighting and alienating one another.

Or, we could trigger the change that is needed, galvanize action and bring together the diverse players – communities, government regulatory agencies, scientists, land owners, and the agricultural chemical industry. If anyone can do this it is Richard Leakey. We discussed strategy and agreed that at this stage we need as many supporters on our side as we continue to gather information, and work with all the stakeholders. We will post the presentations and films here in coming days and invite you to participate through the blog forum, send us emails with documents you may have to info@wildlifedirect.org

Tags: 314, 453, 664

5 responses so far