scarey: the use of pesticides in thailand

Pesticide levels pose threat to Thai vegetable exports

http://www.bangkokpost.com/news/local/218184/pesticide-levels-pose-threat-to-thai-vegetable-exports

The sharp increase in pesticide use by Thai farmers has alarmed international markets.

Thailand imported 42,089 tonnes of pesticides in 1997 but that figure had risen to 137,594 tonnes in 2009.

Food and Agriculture Organisation figures for 2007 show Thailand had 27,126 agricultural chemical brands registered for use - more than China (20,000), Vietnam (1,743), Indonesia (1,158), Malaysia (917), Burma (818) and Laos (100) combined.

combined

"[It is] not only that the country is consuming a massive amount of chemicals, we have also found that farmers still use agricultural chemicals that have been banned in many countries," Ms Rapichan said.

"They are carbofuran, dicrotophos, methomyl and EPN.

We expect the EU to ban our vegetable exports soon."

tip of the day:
wash the vegetables that you buy on the Thai markets

Hi,
I always wash veg. and fruit, and let them soak in water with some potassium permangnate, excuse spelling, the purple stuff, all the time. Told about this in the 60's when i first started to travel. Gets rid of all the nasties.
As for pesticides. Tried to get some last year in Udon. We had weeds, and grass, growing between concrete slabs etc.. Could not find a garden center or super market that sold them, tried many. Back home i used to use a product called, path clear. Could not get it here. Had wife with me, most of the small garden centers did not speak much English. But wife said, this is a pestiside and they will not sell it. Could not find anyone who sold it. In Britian, last year could get it in Tesco's or any small garden shop. As to some of the muck, chemicals, they put in the field of Britian. For bigger and better crops. The words. What the eye does not see come to mind. As for some of the genetic crops grown there, beggers belief. IMO.
If anyone knows where to get Path Clear in LOS please let me know.

Roundup (glyphosate ไกลโฟเซต) is readily available at just about all garden stores. Along Makkaeng Rd, in between Srisuk and Phosri, on the left hand side as you're coming from Srisuk, there are a number of stores that sell all your garden fertilizer, insecticide, roundup sort of materials.

When we first moved in our village, several farmers were suffering the ill-effects of improperly mixed/used chemicals (no protection, overusing, etc). At least in my village, that seems to have ended. Now roaming trucks that specialize in spraying visit the farms periodically and spray. The onion farmers I've talked to seem healthier than years ago and they don't complain about the chemicals as they did a few years ago when it came time to harvest and clean.

The EU's potentially banning of Thai farm products will help Thailand coming to grips with the proper use of these chemicals. Were it not for the outside pressure (the EU ban has monetary ramifications for the farmers/exporters, Thai restaurants in EU, and potentially tourists as well), Thais would continue spraying helter skelter without concern for their own safety. The EU did the same thing a few years ago with the import of shrimp from Thailand that were tainted with chemicals. Hit 'em where it hurts til they figure out it's not the right thing to do (IMO).

Methamidophos is an organophosphate insecticide.

"Abstract
Since the massive food poisoning outbreak in 1987, imported vegetables contaminated with methamidophos continued to cause sporadic food poisoning outbreaks in Hong Kong.....
A study was carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of various ways of treating the vegetables before consumption. In this study, the removal of methamidophos by simply washing with water at near room temperature was found to be a slow process. The concentration of methamidophos was reduced by about 65% after washing in water for an hour. Further washing did not improve the situation. The addition of detergents and various washing aids including potassium permanganate, hydrogen peroxide, sodium bicarbonate and vinegar did not greatly enhance the removal effectiveness. Among the various treatment procedures, soaking in hot water was the most effective way to remove methamidophos from vegetables. Less than 10% of the pesticide remained in the vegetables after soaking in boiling water for 1 minute.

"
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10682642

Don't have info on other pesticides, but assuming they will react the same, it seems a quick soaking in boiling water is the most effective and probably cheapest way to reduce pesticide residue intake.