New: Death in Small Doses  A comprehensive look at the pesticide problem in Cambodia.  This report includes details of the pesticides which are being used, the dangers which they create, and the alternatives which are available.  Produced by the Environmental Justice Foundation, January 2002. Click on the title to go to the EJF website where this report can be downloaded (37 pages, 1.5 Mb) 

Situation Analysis: Farmers Awareness and Perceptions of the effect of pesticides on their health. Pan Sodavy, Mam Sitha, Robert Nugent and Helen Murphy, for the FAO Community IPM Programme, 2000. This study, carried out by IPM farmers and trainers, indicated that more than half of vegetable farmers in Cambodia are using chemicals classified as extremely and highly hazardous (WHO categories Ia and Ib). More than a third of these farmers report symptoms of moderate or severe poisoning.  [16 pages, 75 Kb]

Relationship of pesticide spraying to signs and symptoms in Indonesian farmers. Misa Kishi, Norbert Hirschhorn,  et.al., published in the Scandinavian Journal of Work and Environmental Health, 1995. This study showed that 21% of spray operations by Indonesian rice farmers resulted in three or more symptoms of pesticide poisoning. In other words, acute poisoning is part of normal farming practice not an occasional or accidental event. [10 pages, 118 Kb]

Health Effects of Pesticide Use Among Indonesian Women Farmers, Part 1: Exposure and Acute Effects. Helen Murphy, Arik Sanusi, Russ Dilts, et. al. published in the Journal of Agromedicine. 1999. This study demonstrated that women vegetable farmers in Sumatra use pesticides in a highly unsafe manner.  The report has a large number of tables and photos which clearly show the appalling manner in which pesticides are stored and applied. [25 pages, 531 Kb]

Farmer Self-Surveillance of Pesticide Poisoning Episodes. Carried out by a group of farmers from Nam Dinh Province, Vietnam, and translated by the FAO Community IPM Programme, 2000.  The data in this report, collected over a one month period, demonstrates the extent to which action research by farmers can play an important part in rural community development. [9 pages, 311 Kb]

The Health Effects of Pesticide Use: Methods to Conduct Community Studies With School Age Children.  Helen Murphy for the FAO Community IPM Programme, 1997. These materials and exercises will help school children understand the dangers of pesticide use. The author is interviewed about her work during the Toxic Trail  Documentary.  [35 pages, 124 Kb]

Acute Pesticide Poisoning: A Major Global Health Problem. J. Jeyaratnam, for World Health Statistics Quarterly,1990.  One of the few attempts to make a global estimates of acute pesticide poisoning. After comparing official reports to self-reported cases in a number of Asian countries, the author concludes that "it is estimated that there could be as many as 25 million agricultural workers in the developing world suffering an episode of poisoning each year".[8 pages, 36 Kb]  

The ILO Programme on Occupational Safety and Health in Agriculture.  Valentina Forastieri, International Labour Organisation, 1999. This report contains a more recent authoritative estimate: “Exposure to pesticides and other agrochemicals constitutes one of the major occupational risks, accounting in some countries, for as much as 14 % of all occupational injuries in the agricultural sector and 10 % of all fatal injuries."  [external link to html file, 15 pages]

The website of the Pesticide Action Network (PAN) has data on pesticide sales in different parts of the world (March 2001). Sales in Asia have increased by 10.5% over the last year to reach $7.59 billion which is approximately 25% of the world total. More details are at:  http://www.panna.org/panna/resources/panups/panup_20010316.dv.html

PAN has also documented earlier efforts to control pesticides in Cambodia in an article called 'Struggling to Keep Cambodia off the Pesticide Treadmill'.  Written in 1995, this article refers to the decision by the Cambodian King to ban Methyl parathion (brand name 'Folidol') which is seen being used in the Toxic Trail documentary. The article is available at this address:   http://www.igc.org/panna/resources/_pestis/PESTIS.1995.117.html

The website of Third World Network includes an  article called 'South's Farmers, Workers are victims of Northern Toxic Exports'. The article, written in 2000, includes information about Methyl parathion in Cambodia.  http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/victims.htm

Three UN organisations, ILO, WHO and UNEP, have collaborated to produce a series of 'International Chemical Safety Cards'. The card for Methyl parathion, which provides a detailed description of the hazards associated with this chemical, can be viewed at this address. http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/ipcs/ipcs0626.html. Other extremely hazardous chemicals used by farmers in Cambodia are Mevinphos (ipcs0924) and Monocrotophos (ipcs0181)

The Environmental Defense Fund has a 'scorecard' and links to other sources of information for all of these chemicals at this address: http://www.scorecard.org/chemical-profiles/

If anybody still has any doubts about how dangerous these chemicals are, they should take a look at  the FBI list of "Highly toxic pesticides and organophosphate nerve agents judged likely to be used by terrorists or for malicious intent". The list includes Mevinphos, Monocrotophos, Methyl parathion, and other chemicals regularly used by Cambodian farmers.  Click here to download the file (doc file 128 kb)

By comparison to the above sites, very little information about methyl-parathion can be found at the website of Bayer, the multinational company which produces this chemical under the brand 'Folidol' which is widely used by Cambodian farmers. Instead, the Bayer site has a lot to say about product stewardship.  Go to this page if you want to read how "environmental and safety aspects of a product are critically examined for the entire life of the product". http://www.bayer.com/en/unternehmen/unternehmenspolitik/umwelt/produkte.html

If you want to read more about the reality of product stewardship and methyl parathion, you can read this press release from the Pesticide Action Network: "Bayer Found Responsible for Poisoning of Children in Peru". (August 30, 2002).  

Trade Secrets was a PBS documentary (broadcast in March 2001) about the chemical industry in the United States, and how companies worked to withhold vital information about the risks from workers, the government, and the public. The website includes many useful links and on-line discussions. http://www.pbs.org/tradesecrets/

The Corporate Agribusiness Research Project (CARP) was established to monitor corporate agribusiness from a public interest prospective through awareness, education, and action while at the same time advocating the importance of building alternative, democratically controlled food systems. http://www.ea1.com/CARP/

The Environmental Working Group (EWG) is a good source of information about pesticides and other pollutants. The site includes 'The Chemical Industry Archives'. http://www.ewg.org/

For  general information about chemicals and health, the World Wildlife Fund has a Global Toxics Initiative which is a useful source of information about agricultural pollution, persistent organic pollutants (POPS) and endocrine disruptors. http://www.worldwildlife.org/toxics/

Another good source of information on chemicals and health is the Environmental Research Foundation.  The site includes an archive of Rachel's Weekly, a free newsletter which is available by e-mail.  http://www.rachel.org/

The authors of Our Stolen Future provide regular updates about research into endocrine disruption at this site: http://www.osf-facts.org/ 

The International POPs Elimination Network (IPEN) is a global network of NGOs which share the goal of the global elimination of persistent organic pollutants. http://www.ipen.org/ 

The Greenpeace Toxics campaign has additional information about POPs at this address: http://www.greenpeace.org/~toxics/

The Science and Environmental Health Network has a collection of materials on the Precautionary Principle, including a FAQ and a Handbook which can be downloaded.   http://www.sehn.org/

The FAO Programme for Community IPM, one of the organisations involved in the production of Toxic Trail, has a website with a wide arrange of materials about IPM activities in Asia. http://www.CommunityIPM.org

An interesting overview of the history of pest management and the development of organophosphates is available at this page: http://www.safe2use.com/ca-ipm/01-04-27.htm