It has been recommended that registered carbofuran-group pesticides, which are harmful to people and other animals, be allowed for four more months. The decision was taken at a meeting of the National Technical Committee on Pesticides on 16 July.

Earlier, the agriculture ministry had issued a notification banning the advertising, renewal, import and use of registered carbofuran-group pesticides after June.

The technical committee has now proposed banning them after this October. The committee is headed by the executive chairman of the Bangladesh Agricultural Research Council (BARC).

Asked about it, Md Abu Zubair Hossain Bablu, joint secretary of the agriculture ministry's inputs wing, told Jagonews24: "The technical committee has recommended extending the time for use of registered carbofuran-group pesticides by four more months. No decision has yet been taken on this."

He said the committee had noted that imported carbofuran is still held by traders. "There is the question of why we should approve this, and why we should keep extending the time again and again. We have a lot to find out: how much of the pesticide is still there, and how much the surplus being talked about amounts to. We will know that and then decide," he said.

The earlier notification banning the pesticide said that since the toxicity of carbofuran technical and formulations is harmful to humans and animals under the World Health Organization (WHO) classification, renewal, import and use of registered carbofuran products would continue until June. After that, the advertising, renewal, import and use of registered carbofuran products would not be allowed under any circumstances.

The notification said the government issued the order under sections 15, 18 and 19 and other relevant sections of the Pesticide Act 2018, and powers given in the Pesticide Rules 1985, to regulate the import, production, reproduction, sale, distribution and use of pesticides and related matters.

Carbofuran is a granular pesticide that works as both a preventive and a cure: applied before an infestation it keeps pests away, and applied after an infestation it kills the pests.

Carbofuran has been identified as a substance harmful to human health, and contact with it causes various diseases in people.

A single granule of carbofuran can kill a bird. Birds often die after eating the pesticide by mistake instead of seeds. Its use has been banned in various countries including the United States and Canada.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.