Conventional coffee production requires multiple
chemical inputs, and in Costa Rica, 400,000
people are poisoned by pesticides annually.
Global agribusiness will need to see serious changes in the future, both for the sake of preserving their profits and the quality of human life on our planet. Pesticides pose serious health risks to those who apply them to crops, as well as to the consumers who purchase the produce. Various studies have shown the damaging effects of pesticdes to those who apply them, some of these referenced here. The point of this section is to inform the reader of the effects of pesticide use on the workers, although of serious concern as well are the possibly carcinogenic effects of consuming pesticide produced foods.

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Background

Pesticides provide an easy solution to biological problems like fungi and insects, or other organisms that are detrimental to crop production. Coffee and bannana production are two of the biggest users of pesticide applications in tropical agrobusiness. Coffee production is a booming industry, and therefore constantly changes. Coffee was traditionally shade grown in Latin America, but when the global demand for coffee arose, farmers switched over to sun grown coffee in an attempt to produce higher yields. As it has become apparent that sun-grown or "technified" coffee has a higher environmental cost, many farmers are now trying to switch back to shade grown and organic coffees. The switch from conventional to organic is hard to complete, and the transition period is one of lowered production; something many farmers can't afford to risk.

"Sampling of imported green coffee beans conducted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the late 1970s and early 1980s revealed frequent detections of DDT, BHC (benzine hexachloride) and other pesticides banned in the U.S. because of possible carcinogenicity or long-term persistence in the environment."1 Since these findings some things have changed. Certain pesticides have been banned , although many more are still used regularly and pose serious health effects.

Costa Rica, the World and Consequences of Pesticide Usage

In this organic coffee plantation, the farmer
utilizes methods of biological pest and fungal
control instead of chemical applications.
Organic coffee production prevents poisoning
of the soil, groundwater, and workers that
conventional coffee production can cause.
Much like coffee production, banana production uses a high dose of pesticides in its cultivation processes. "The use of pesticides in Costa Rica during the last decade reached the level of 4kg per capita per year, 8 times more than the estimated quantity of 0.5kg for the total world population, and more than twice the average used in the Central American region." Of these pesticides, 44 kg per hectare were used in banana production.2 Bananas are one of the more difficult crops to grow organically, due to their susceptibility to pests and fungi. In a study conducted by C. Wesseling, it has been shown that bananna plantations are subjected to aerial sprayings weekly of "carcinogenic or endocrine disrupting fungicides.3" The study went on to test dust samples from "school banks and matresses of children living close to [Costa Rican] plantations" and discovered "up to 8 pesticides."

Costa Rican pesticide use has lead to an estimated poisoning of 2% of the population annually or 400,000 people. One such pesticide, paraquat, is encouraged as a safe pesticide, even though it has caused fatal poisonings of children in low-income rural areas. Furthermore, Honduran banana plantation workers have been found to have suicidal thoughts sterile, Costa Rican farmers have become hormone dependent, and diagnosed with liver and skin cancers.4

Injuries caused to workers by pesticide application are largely sustained through the skin. In the hot areas, like Costa Rica and Kenya, where agricultural workers apply pesticides, the workers often don't wear protective gear intended to be used when apllying the substances. Many workers, even literate workers can't understand the warnings on the pesticide containers, due to the overly technical language. "Records from the Kenyatta National Hospital indicate that at least two cases of pesticide poisoning are seen daily (730 cases annually)." Approximately 7% of Kenya's estimated five million agricultural workers are poisoned annually (these aren't specific to coffee production).5

Conclusion

These statistics are just a brief look into specific pesticide usage, but the implications are broad. Without a rise in the global regulation of pesticide sale, use and production, the overall quality of global human life will continue to drop. Sadly, the majority of the negative effects of major agricultural pesticide use will be suffered in developing countries, by people without the legal or political means to defend themselves against such practices. Without strong government action from the western powers that own agrobusinesses in these parts of the world, solutions must come from western consumers demanding products that show a greater concern for the workers who produce them.









1 Coffee, Conservation, and Commerce in the Western Hemisphere (2007). Retrieved August 4, 2007, from http://www.nrdc.org/health/farming/ccc/chap4.asp
2 The Environmental Impact of the Banana Industry: A Case Study of Costa Rica. Retrieved August 4, 2007 from http://www.bananalink.org.uk/documents/Current_Environmental_Impact_by_Y_Astorga.doc
3, 4 Wesseling, C. HUMAN RIGHTS AND ENVIRONMENTAL JUSTICE IN PESTICIDE ISSUES: EXAMPLES OF INEQUITIES FROM CENTRAL AMERICA(Electronic Source). Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Inc. Volume 16(5), September 2005, pp S72-S73.
5 Pesticide Action Network North America Update Service. Agrichemical Use in Kenya (1995). Retrieved from http://www.sare.org/sanet-mg/archives/html-home/7-html/0104.html