Publication:
Stockpiles of Obsolete Pesticides and Cleanup Priorities : A Methodology and Application for Tunisia

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Date
2010
ISSN
1095-8630 (Electronic) 0301-4797 (Linking)
Published
2010
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Obsolete pesticides have accumulated in almost every developing country or economy in transition over the past several decades. Concerned about the risks these chemicals pose to nearby residents, public health and environmental authorities are eager to reduce health threats by removing and decontaminating stockpile sites. However, there are many sites, cleanup can be costly, and public resources are scarce, so decision makers need to set priorities. Under these conditions, it seems sensible to develop a methodology for prioritizing sites and treating them sequentially, as budgetary resources permit. This paper presents a new methodology that develops a cleanup priority index for 1915 metric tons of obsolete pesticide formulations at 197 stockpile sites in Tunisia. The approach integrates information on populations at risk, their proximity to stockpiles, and the relative toxic hazards of the stockpiles. What emerges from the Tunisia results is a strategy for sequentially addressing all 197 sites to rapidly reduce potential health damage in a cost-effective way.
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  • Publication
    Stockpiles of Obsolete Pesticides and Cleanup Priorities : A Methodology and Application for Tunisia
    (2009-04-01) Dasgupta, Susmita; Meisner, Craig; Wheeler, David
    Obsolete pesticides have accumulated in almost every developing country or economy in transition over the past several decades. Public health and environmental authorities are eager to reduce health threats by removing and decontaminating stockpile sites, but there are many sites, cleanup can be costly, and public resources are scarce. Under these conditions, it seems sensible to develop a methodology for prioritizing sites and treating them sequentially, as budgetary resources permit. This paper presents a methodology that develops cleanup priority indices for Tunisia. The approach integrates information on populations at risk, their proximity to stockpiles, and the relative toxic hazards of the stockpiles. The robustness of this approach is tested by varying model parameters widely and testing for stability in the rank-ordering of results.
  • Publication
    Pesticide Poisoning of Farm Workers : Implications of Blood Test Results from Vietnam
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-06) Dasgupta, Susmita; Meisner, Craig; Wheeler, David; Lam, Nhan Thi; Xuyen, Khuc
    In this paper, the authors have assessed the incidence and determinants of pesticide poisoning among rice farmers in Vietnam's Mekong Delta. Blood cholinesterase tests suggest that the incidence of poisoning from exposure to organophosphates and carbamates is quite high in Vietnam. Using the medical test results as benchmarks, the authors find that farmers' self-reported symptoms have very weak associations with actual poisoning. Regression analysis of blood tests reveals a lower incidence of poisoning for farmers who avoid the most toxic pesticides and use protective items. The authors also find very large provincial differences in poisoning incidence after they control for individual factors. The results highlight the potential importance of negative externalities, and suggest that future research on pesticide-related damage should include information on local water, air, and soil contamination.
  • Publication
    Health Effects and Pesticide Perception as Determinants of Pesticide Use : Evidence from Bangladesh
    (World Bank, Washington, DC, 2005-11) Dasgupta, Susmita; Meisner, Craig; Huq, Mainul
    In a recent survey of 820 Boro (winter rice), potato, bean, eggplant, cabbage, sugarcane, and mango farmers in Bangladesh, over 47 percent of farmers were found to be overusing pesticides. With only 4 percent of farmers formally trained in pesticide use or handling, and over 87 percent openly admitting to using little or no protective measures while applying pesticides, overuse is potentially a threatening problem to farmer health as well as the environment. To model pesticide overuse, the authors used a 3-equation, trivariate probit framework, with health effects and misperception of pesticide risk as endogenous dummy variables. Health effects (the first equation) were found to be strictly a function of the amount of pesticides used in production, while misperception of pesticide risk (the second equation) was determined by health impairments from pesticides and the toxicity of chemicals used. Pesticide overuse (the third equation) was significantly determined by variation in income, farm ownership, the toxicity of chemicals used, crop composition, and geographical location. The results highlight the necessity for policymakers to design effective and targeted outreach programs that deal specifically with pesticide risk, safe handling, and averting behavior. Ideally, the approach would be participatory in nature to address key informational gaps, as well as increasing a farmers' awareness retention. The results also point to specific crops and locations experiencing a higher prevalence of overuse-bean and eggplant in general-and overall production in the districts of Chapainawabganj, Chittagong, Comilla, Jessore, Narshingdi, Rajshahi, and Rangpur. Focusing efforts in these crop and geographical areas may have the most measurable effects on pesticide overuse.
  • Publication
    Is Environmentally-Friendly Agriculture Less Profitable for Farmers? Evidence on Integrated Pest Management in Bangladesh
    (World Bank, Washington, D.C., 2004-09-01) Dasgupta, Susmita; Meisner, Craig; Wheeler, David
    Concerns about the sustainability of conventional agriculture have prompted widespread introduction of integrated pest management (IPM), an ecologically-based approach to control of harmful insects and weeds. IPM is intended to reduce ecological and health damage from chemical pesticides by using natural parasites and predators to control pest populations. Since chemical pesticides are expensive for poor farmers, IPM offers the prospect of lower production costs and higher profitability. However, adoption of IPM may reduce profitability if it also lowers overall productivity, or induces more intensive use of other production factors. On the other hand, IPM may actually promote more productive farming by encouraging more skillful use of available resources. Data scarcity has hindered a full accounting of IPM's impact on profitability, health, and local ecosystems. Using new survey data, the authors attempt such an accounting for rice farmers in Bangladesh. They compare outcomes for farming with IPM and conventional techniques, using input-use accounting, conventional production functions, and frontier production estimation. All of their results suggest that the productivity of IPM rice farming is not significantly different from the productivity of conventional farming. Since IPM reduces pesticide costs with no countervailing loss in production, it appears to be more profitable than conventional rice farming. The interview results also suggest substantial health and ecological benefits. However, externality problems make it difficult for farmers to adopt IPM individually. Without collective adoption, neighbors' continued reliance on chemicals to kill pests will also kill helpful parasites and predators, as well as exposing IPM farmers and local ecosystems to chemical spillovers from adjoining fields. Successful IPM adoption may therefore depend on institutional support for collective action.
  • Publication
    Reducing the Human and Environmental Risks of Obsolete Pesticides
    (Washington, DC, 2010-08) World Bank
    Obsolete pesticide stocks have accumulated in most of the world's developing countries and economies in transition in recent decades. International organizations estimate that some 500,000 tons are stockpiled worldwide, about half of which are located in countries of the former Soviet Union. Across the African continent, obsolete stocks total about 50,000 tons, while Latin America has at least 30,000 tons. This report includes the following sections: section one includes overview, section two include risk assessment method for priority-setting. Section three includes setting cleanup priorities in Tunisia. Section four includes cleanup and safeguarding highlights in Africa. Finally, section five includes reducing the risk.

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