Cancer-causing pesticides: Where are govt agencies?

“I remind you [minister of Agriculture Frank] Tumwebaze to accelerate your efforts on regulating and controlling acaricides. This is because of the food we eat. We eat meat and drink milk from the cows. When we drink milk, it should not have been contaminated by the acaricides or even the meat [because] acaricides are counterfeit,” the Vice President said. 

Acaricides are pesticides that kill members of the arachnid subclass Acari, which includes ticks and mites. Acaricides are used both in medicine and agriculture, although the desired selective toxicity differs between the two fields.

For a while now, Ugandans have grappled with the problem of safety of foods. Last year, findings in a study by researchers at Makerere University detected worrying levels of cancer-causing agents in milk, vegetables and fruits from Kampala farmers. 

Mid this year, the government of South Sudan impounded maize flour worth billions of shillings originating from Uganda because the South Sudan National Bureau of Standards said the flour was contaminated with aflatoxins.

Last week, this newspaper run a story that cases of foodborne illnesses are causing anxiety among learners in schools. According to the story, students interviewed from different schools acknowledged suffering stomach-related problems, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea at least twice in a term, especially after meals.

In all this, one would ask, where are government agencies such as Uganda National Bureau of Standards (UNBS) and National Drug Authority (NDA) that are mandated to protect Ugandans?

In responding to the Vice President, Mr Tumwebaze said Cabinet had approved the idea of forming food and agricultural authority that will be dedicated to issues of food safety. 

But besides the risk of contradicting government’s plan of rationalising agencies, we risk creating too many agencies that in the end fail to fight the problem and end up fighting each other. Take the fight against corruption as an example. We have created far too many agencies yet the vice still persists.

Our view is that government is aware of what is imported into the country, and by who. Let us identify the banned products and ensure they do not enter the country.

We should also follow the law to the letter and make sure that those who break it are punished, regardless of their proximity to the powers that be.

Finally, as the Agriculture minister suggested, we need to pay more attention to the issue of extension services. We need these technical advisors to teach farmers and supply them with the necessary inputs and services to support their production.