KATHMANDU, Jan. 10: Haphazard use of pesticides in vegetables in the Kathmandu Valley has put the health of consumers in jeopardy, a study has revealed.

“Ignorance of the farmers regarding the ill effects of the toxic substances on human health is putting innocent consumers at great risk,” says the study report prepared by two women scientists Dr. Ananda Shova Tamrakar and Panna Shova Kansakar. The scientists are affiliated with the Department of Zoology of Tribhuvan University.

The scientific research report published in the latest Journal of the Natural History Museum reveals an alarming situation of pesticide pollution in vegetable crops in the Kathmandu Valley with over 78 per cent of the edibles scanned found to be contaminated with critical level of toxic residue.

The study conducted in Kathmandu, Lalitpur and Bhaktapur has found that the people in the Valley are forced to consume such harmful vegetables due to ignorance about the ill effects of the toxic substances.

The pesticide threat among vegetable consumers in the capital is heightened because harvesting takes place too soon after chemicals are sprayed. Due to the short duration, the toxic effects are still strong and active, resulting in different kinds of health hazards. “Thirty-five per cent of the farmers were unaware of the waiting period between pesticide application and harvesting,” the report states. 
The laboratory tests showed that toxic contamination in the collected vegetables and fruits was higher than the acceptable daily intake level set by the Central Food Research Laboratory, a regulatory agency of the government.

It is not only the consumers who are threatened by careless pesticide use. The farmers themselves and even the retailers of these toxic stuffs are at considerable risk, the research report warns. The study found that safety measures were not applied by the pesticide retailers and farmers. Only 15 per cent of the farmers used both mask and gloves when handling pesticides. Similarly, 42 per cent of the pesticide retailers did the work without being properly protected.

Due to absence of knowledge about handling techniques, the farmers are also becoming victims of pesticide hazards.

According to the report, 30 per cent of the farmers surveyed said they handled pesticides in farms without expert help while 25 per cent followed advice given by the retailers. Twenty-five per cent of the farmers said they did not take into consideration the wind direction while spraying pesticides, raising the chance of direct inhalation.

“Most of the people who handled the chemicals regularly complained of eye irritation, vomiting, headache, cough and skin rashes,” says the report.

The study found that farmers heavily used BHC powder and Endosulfan followed by Metacid, Malathion, Phorate, Dithane, Furadane and Sumicidin to control farm pests.

During the study, 50 farmers and 15 chemical retailers of the three Valley cities were interviewed. Vegetable and fruit samples were collected from different places and tested in the lab for toxic residue.

Apples and strawberries were sampled from different fruit shops in Kalimati. “Fruits were found to be contaminated by colouring and ripening agents,” said Dr. Tamrakar who headed the study team. More and more foodstuffs are being contaminated for colouring purposes which calls for up-to-date quality testing, she told The Rising Nepal.

More than Rs. 50 million is spent annually in Nepal on pesticides. Ninety per cent of these chemicals are used to boost agricultural output. “The farmers have been found using even banned toxic chemicals. Many internationally banned chemicals are seen in the Nepalese market. The report claims that people are selling toxic chemicals without licence or technical knowledge in the field. 
The report points out that quantitative regulation on chemicals to be used on a unit of land, improper method of use and inadequacy or absence of precautionary steps have aggravated the problem. The need to implement legal control over such hazardous chemicals has been pointed out.

In the past, Nepalese farmers relied on traditional methods to kill crop pests. After the green revolution of the Sixties, chemical fertilizers came into use to feed the growing population. Use of chemical pesticides too has increased since then. Learning lessons from hostile environmental consequences of pest killing chemicals, scientists have now shifted their attention towards biological control techniques in which enemy insects are reared to control the crop enemies