Pesticide hazards - 30 years and no change ?
Two Swedish initiated collaborative reports express a frustration with the lack of improvement at field level over the last 30 years, in spite of important national and international initiatives, which improve knowledge of the regulatory approaches.
One key recommendation is to suggest that government agencies (including public and occupational health, environment, and agriculture), research institutes, civil society and the international community (UN agencies, donors, pesticide industry) contribute to the work of a National Forum for action on pesticide hazards. In turn, the National Forum would form a liaison body with external centres such as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the World Health Organization, the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety, international public interest NGOs, and other knowledgeable and experienced institutes. The report urges development agencies, and in particular Sida - The Swedish International Development Co-operation Agency - to increase their allocation of resources to deal with pesticides problems and to promote the alternative approaches which would help reduce dependence on pesticides.
