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Wednesday, June 09, 2004
Agencies to check safety of pupils from chemicals
By Aurea A. Gerundio
THE City Council of Davao Tuesday has asked four government agencies to check on the reported health risks schoolchildren are exposed to due to agro-chemicals in the plantation that surrounds their school.
The four agencies tasked to conduct the investigation include the City Environment and Natural Resources Office, the Department of Education, City Health Office and the Department of Health.
Councilor Angela A. Librado, who proposed the resolution, said the report made by the multi-sectoral investigating team (MSIT) showing at least 100 pupils of the Emelio Araneta Sr. Elementary School are at risk from exposure to hazardous agro-chemicals used by banana plantations at Barangay Daliaon Plantation in Toril is something that needs immediate attention.
"The implication of the report is that it shall adversely affect the students and shall interfere with their studies as the exposure will take its toll in their bodies," said Librado, who is also the chair of the council committee on women, children and family relations.
Earlier, the Watershed Management Coordinating Council (WMCC) president Victor Caņizares raised the concern on the matter as the school formally opened.
"What alarmed us is the location of this school inside the plantation. The health of these children should be of utmost concern of the DepEd (Department of Education) and other concerned government agencies," Caņizares said.
It was also reported that among the pesticides used in the plantation include Vondozeb (Mancozeb), Tilt (Propicanazole), Bankit, Lorsban (Chlorpyrifos) and Confidor (Imidacloprid), which are reportedly sprayed every 8-10 days.
Caņizares said that, in a paper prepared by Dr. Romeo Quijano of the University of the Philippines Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology College of Medicine, Mancozeb fungicide belongs to the ethylene bis-thiocarbamate (EBDC) group of pesticides, which are converted into ethylene thiourea (ETU), a known cancer-causing chemical.
(June 9, 2004 issue)
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