Dina Ndelini had worked on Vineti by Cabo Cabo When, suddenly, It was breathless. A trip to the hospital quickly led to a series of events that led her to lose her health, her job and, with him, her home.
According to his doctor, the most probable cause was the exposure to chemical concoction known as Dormex, usually used as a regulator of the growth of plants in South Africa, his active ingredient, Cianamidehas been described asHighly dangerous from the European Agency for chemicals and preparations (Echa) and forbidden in the EU since 2009.
Despite this, the Dormax is only one more than one Long listof highly dangerous chemicals who continue to be produced on European land and sell to third countries. The foods made abroad with these chemicals are subsequently imported to sell them on the shelves of European supermarkets.
Dina was one of the many stories shared by agricultural workers and health and health professionals in a recent Popular Court on pesticidescelebrated in the heart of the world. Stellenbosch Wine RegionIn South Africa, from 21 to 23 March.
Although it is not a formal court, this hearing led by the community offers a space for people affected to share their testimonies before the expert judges who examine the complaints of Violations of international lawincluding human and environmental rights.
South African agricultural workers ask Europe to stop “poisons”
He asked for his message in Europe, Dina was clear. “As agricultural workers we say enough, we don’t want more Pesticides of Europe“He says, exhorting the block to” stop sending their poisons. ” Exposure to pesticides In their life, from pulmonary damage Until Ovaro cancer y Vision problems.
“If it’s not good enough for Europeans, why do you think it’s for us?” Says another agricultural worker, who wants to remain anonymous and adds that European consumers should know “human reality behind the Drinking wine“.
According to the African center for biodiversity, in South Africa They continue to be used legally 192 Highly dangerous pesticides57 of which are prohibited in the EU. Some are neurotoxic or carcinogenic, while others are considered acute toxic to the environment.
Women, the most damaged by pesticides
Those who are in the first line of exposure are agricultural workers and their families who live in the vicinity of the smokes and who are in the lower phase of the complex Inequalities of wealth and power of the country, rooted in their past apartheid.
With precarious contracts, working overloads, scarcely paid and just protected, agricultural workers barely have a voice in the management of these farms, Directed by the rich landowners “Boeri” (farmers).
The most exposed are women,biologically more susceptible to exposure to pesticides ymore vulnerable In South African societies, according to the South African project for women on the farm (WFP), an NGO who works to protect western and northern workers.
Throughout the Court, the workers have repeatedly affirmed him No individual protection equipment were providedAnd many have testified that women usually wear handkerchiefs to cover their face while working. Others said they did not have access to running water nor a Toy In the vineyards.
The ban on pesticide exports is a “double morale flag”
Attempts to align commercial standards are in the spotlight in Brussels, with the publication of a new road map EU policy for agriculture which establishes plans to limit food imports from third countries with prohibited pesticides residues in Europe. It is not the first time that the EU is proposed to this type, since for years the Commission can be said stop the export of prohibited pesticides.
But the plans face the company opposition of agri -food groups, including the pressure group of pesticides Croplifewhich for a long time claims that these pesticides They are needed in certain circumstances.
“The productive realities of South African agriculture are enormously different, so it is difficult to compare them with those of other countries and regions,” said Croplife South Africa in a statement after the court. He claims that different crops, parasites and climatic conditions require “different solutions and pesticides at different times”.
ADVERTISINGThis topic has no weight for the United Nations Special Speaker on toxic and human rights, dr. Marcos Orellana. “The human body is the same everywhere; What differs is the lack of ability of government institutions to face the risks imposed on people in vulnerability, “he says, describing it how “Double Standard Flagent”.
International protection, an exercise of “Mark Boxes”
South AfricaIt has legal systems that regulate the use of these chemicals and are working to gradually eliminate highly dangerous pesticides in the near future, but the participants in the court have argued that often The regulations are not applied. In the meantime, agricultural workers usually ignore their rights or are reluctant to defend them.
For Orellana, from the United Nations, the topic that governments are sovereigns to make their decisions “underlines (La) lack of capacity in many, if not in most, of developing countries involved in the international trade of pesticides” and excludes the question of the “question of” corruption and the corporate capture of government institutions that make these decisions. “
In more general terms, an international treaty called Rotterdam agreement It is designed to promote the informed decision -making process by the countries that trade with dangerous chemicals.
ADVERTISINGBut for Andrea Rother, head of the environmental health division of the University of Cape, the agreement is too bulky to be effective. “When a pesticide is included in the list, it is usually obsolete,” he says, and adds that the agreement is “more an exercise to mark the boxes” than a real mechanism of safeguard.
By underlining that no African country produces its ingredients of pesticides, Rother claims that a ban on the part would be a “great help” for South Africa. “There are alternatives to these pesticides”states and claims that such a prohibition of exports could be a “catalyst” towards agricultural systems further sustainable.
For the coordinator of the PMA campaigns, Kara Mackay, every day that the EU continues with the production and export to South Africa of these chemical products prohibited by EU it is another that it is “An accomplice of daily poisoning with pesticides of the workers and inhabitants of farms” And he says that “we have to put an end to this toxic trade; support the opposite reveals an unjustified racist and colonial thought”
In the meantime, expert judges who judge Popular Court will evaluate the tests presented by Dina and the rest of the agricultural workers, before offering theirs Verdict and legal advice within a few months.
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