In Kenya, parliament is being askedto ban a pesticide that's been blamed for the deaths of hundreds of animals,including many lions. KenyanMP John Matutho is introducing legislation to prohibit the use of Furadan ? acheap but lethal chemical originally manufactured by the US based FMCCorporation.
Theconservation group Wildlife Direct supports the ban, which would replace abuy-back program for Furadan. It says local herdsmen are using it to poisonlions and other carnivores threatening their livestock.
InNairobi, WildlifeDirect executive director Dr. Paula Kahumbu says, "This is apesticide that has recently been banned in the United States. It's also bannedin Europe because it's been found to be unsafe to be used even if we follow thelabel instructions.? It's one of the most dangerous pesticides actuallyavailable at the moment."
It'sreadily obtainable over the counter in Africa. "It's very, very cheap. In fact,it's probably the cheapest pesticide available," she says.
Inthe early 1990s, it was discovered that water birds were dying large numbersafter Furadanwas used in some irrigation systems.
"Sothat's when people realized it was just devastating wildlife. And later on, thelocal communities realized it was powerful against almost any animal. In fact,birds are very sensitive, but so are cats," she says.
"Weknow over 60 lions that have been killed in the last two years and that'sprobably the tip of the iceberg. And Kenya today has fewer than 2,100 lionsremaining. We used to have over 30,000," says Kahumbu.
Isthe buyback plan working? The head of WildlifeDirect says, "The Furadanwithdrawal and buyback is working in the sense that FMC is effectivelywithdrawing it from the shelves. The problem is the patents that FMC had haveexpired and Furadan, or carbofuran, is being produced now by Chinese, Indianand Pakistani companies."
Theconservation group fears that means unless a ban is imposed, the pesticide willeasily find its way back to Kenya.
Thechemical attacks the nervous system and only small amounts can kill an animal.It can also be fatal to humans if ingested.
"Ittakes only a quarter of a teaspoon to kill people, "says Kahumbu. She sayslower concentrations can cause neurological problems, such as paralysis andbreathing problems.
"Thishas been documented in other countries. It hasn't been documented in Kenya. AndI suspect it's purely because there's absolutely no monitoring system inplace," she says.
"It'llbe easy to enforce in that if anybody is found using it there wouldautomatically be very stringent responses. People would be arrested. Theyprobably would be fined or maybe even go to jail," she says.
Once a ban is imposed, she says, aneducation campaign can begin warning of the health dangers of Furadan and therisks of punishment for using it.