A Thai health network has drawn attention to research findings which suggest that pesticide and herbicide contamination in both food and the environment pose a health threat to the Thai public.
The information was posted online recently by the Thailand Pesticide Alert Network (Thai-PAN) as a government panel is this month set to consider whether to ban the use of two pesticides -- paraquat and glyphosate.
According to Prokchol Ousat, coordinator of Thai-PAN, her organisation is publicising the results of a study conducted by master's degree students from Chulalongkorn University between 2010-2012 in Nan's Wieng Sa district which found dangerous amounts of paraquat in farm animals and water resources.
Noppadon Kitana, chief of the Department of Biology in Chulalongkorn University's Faculty of Science, said the study found that the amount of paraquat found in the samples were up to 10 times higher than the maximum safe amount, specified by Codex, the UN food and agriculture watchdog.
However, the quantities of glyphosate and atrazine were within acceptable levels.
Mr Noppadon said the study also examined the pathology of the animals tested.
It was found that crabs and frogs found in paddy fields where paraquat had been used were of a significantly lower weight, while the contaminated frogs also tended to have larger livers and abnormal growths in their ovaries.
He said the results of the study were in line with various other international peer-reviewed studies which have linked atrazine with irregularities in the reproductive systems of animals which had been in contact with the chemical.
"Even though the quantities of atrazine did not exceed the maximum safe amounts for humans to eat, the contamination to the environment was sufficient to cause alterations to these animals bodies. Paraquat, too, was found to accumulate in the organs of species which are likely to enter the human food chain at some point," he said.
He raised a particular concern about people living in the North, as it is renowned for the use of crab sauce as a seasoning in cooking.
Locals there may be more at risk as the large amount of crab required to make the sauce is likely to result in large amounts of paraquat entering the food chain too, he noted.
Green activists have long raised concerns over the use of herbicides by the farming sector, saying that there is strong evidence linking their use to negative impacts on both health and the environment.
They have called on the government to ban paraquat and chlorpyrifos and restrict the use of glyphosate. The Ministry of Public Health has affirmed to its support for these measures.
