The company that makes Furadan, which is carbofuran pesticide, is working very hard to prevent a complete ban on its product in Kenya. In fact, FMC will try to overturn the ban on carbofuran that the EPA just instituted here in the U.S. See, they changed the label on their purple poison and figured that’d solve the human health risks and wildlife exterminations. Clearly FMC is interested only in profit and really don’t have any interest in how their product affects the entire planet.
Furadan is very easy to get in Kenya. Wildlife Direct reports that people can buy it just about anywhere and use it for any purpose, despite the label instructions. Ordinary people buy Furadan to keep wildlife out of their crops and often poison the carcass of another animal to attract wildlife. Then the animal dies a horrible death and some other animal comes along and feeds on its poisoned carcass. You can see where this is going but here’s a video of a lion dying of Furadan poisoning after eating a poisoned hippo carcass:
Furadan’s impact on birds is enormous. That’s one of the main reasons it’s completely banned in the U.S. – because millions of birds are killed when they eat the seed-like granules used on crops. Not to mention the health effects on humans who eat foods treated with a pesticide that attacks an animal’s central nervous system (YOU are an animal so YOU are affected).
This video, posted recently on the Stop Wildlife Poisoning blog on Wildlife Direct, shows the deadly effects of Furadan poison on a wild bird:
Furadan is so bad for every living thing on the planet that Canada is now considering a ban.
A toxic agricultural pesticide blamed for killing up to 100 million birds a year in North America and for poisoning lions in Africa, is facing a proposed ban in Canada this summer.
Following a ruling last week by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to forbid the sale of any domestic or imported food crops that have traces of the chemical carbofuran, Health Canada is proposing to “phase out all uses” of the pesticide.
But the move comes decades after Canadian government officials first learned carbofuran was wiping out everything from flocks of songbirds in the Prairies to eagles in British Columbia.
One of the first warnings about the pesticide came in 1984 when a Saskatchewan farmer went to inspect a canola field he’d treated with carbofuran.
“He returned to find the bodies of several thousand Lapland Longspurs dotting the field,” according to a report on the incident by the Canadian Wildlife Service.
The Lapland Longspur is a sparrow-like songbird that breeds in the Arctic and winters in open fields across southern Canada and the United States.
In addition, the Kenyan government recently decided to stop allowing sales of Furadan in Kenya and FMC is supposedly buying back the product. Here’s what’s really happening:
- FMC have withdrawn Furadan from Kenya and are buying it back from all Agrovets. We have reports from Agrovets that Furadan is out of stock but some are stashing it and selling under the table.
- New reports of poisoning with Furadan continue to come in from Bunyala and Tsavo as well as Amboseli affecting birds, predators, and elephants (see blog posts on http://stopwildlifepoisoning.wildlifedirect.org)
- FMC met with a team in Nairobi – they denied any link with wildlife deaths in Kenya to Furadan and told us that the government chemist equipment was inadequate leading to possibility of false positive results. We question this allegation. FMC insist that only KEPHIS have adequate labs, but KEPHIS are unwilling to analyse animal samples and have indicated a price rise to Ksh 20,000 per sample.
- On March 18th the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) concluded that “dietary, worker, and ecological risks are unacceptable for all uses of carbofuran,” and have canceled all tolerances for carbofuran in USA. This means Furadan cannot be used at all after December 2009, nor can USA import crops that have been grown using Carbofuran. FMC the manufacturer has 90 days to appeal.
- In December 2008 Furadan was banned in the EU.
- The issue of banning Furadan in Kenya has come up in parliament and will be discussed next Thursday, May 28. John Mututho, MP for Naivasha and Chair of the Agriculture Committee is seeking to have it banned. He is up against much opposition in the Min of Ag, Env, and Wildlife!
Kenya isn’t the only country suffering massive wildlife poisoning but they do have the most iconic and celebrated wildlife on the African continent. It’s worth preserving and it’s worth fighting to save. You can help by sending letters supporting the complete ban on Furadan in Kenya. Here are the addresses, some with e-mail addresses, where you can write and indicate your support of the ban. Please write soon, as Parliament meets tomorrow!
Honorable William Ruto
Minister of Agriculture
Kilimo House, Cathedral Road
P.O. Box 30028, Nairobi
Tel. 2718870
Telegrams: “MINAG”
tel (254-020) 718870
Honorable Najib Balala
Minister of Tourism and Wildlife
Utalii House, Off Uhuru Highway
P.O. Box 30027, Nairobi, KENYA
Tel: +254-020-333555, +254-020-313010
Fax. +254-020-318045
E-mail: info@tourism.go.ke
KENYA TOURIST BOARD (USA market)
Carlson Destination Marketing Services
P.O. Box 59159
Minneapolis, MN 55459-8257
Phone: 1-866-44-KENYA
Fax: 763-212-2533
E-mail: infousa@MagicalKenya.com
For US based travel agents: KenyaAgent.com
Ministry of Fisheries
tel 2716103/85
fax + 254 20 316731
Honorable John Michuki, THE Minister of ENVIRONMENT AND MINERAL RESOURCES,
NHIF BUILDING,12th FLOOR,
RAGATI ROAD, UPPERHILL
P.O BOX 30126-00100
Nairobi
Kenya
Telephone: tel +254 20 2730808/9
Fax: fax +254 20 2725707
http://www.environment.go.ke
Information: All correspondence must be copied to the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Environment and Mineral Resources.
WRITE NOW!
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Filed under: animal rights, endangered species, wildlife conservation Tagged: | furadan poisoning, stop wildlife poisoning, support furadan ban in kenya
