Pesticides cause some health problems-MEST official

Accra(Greater Accra) 31 March '99

The wrong application of pesticides on food crops has been identified as one of the causes of Ghana's numerous health problems in recent time. Mrs Patience T.M. Damptey, a director at the Ministry of Environment, Science and Technology (MEST) on Tuesday regretted that many people often attribute superstitious beliefs to health problems caused by pesticides. She was speaking on "Pesticides and gender relations" on the second day of a three-day national review workshop for the National Action Programme for Integrated Chemical Management in Ghana. The workshop has been organised by the Environmental Protection Agency, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the Inter-Organisation programme for Sound management of Chemicals (IOMC). About 100 participants drawn from government ministries, Customs, Excise and Preventive Service, the media and related Non-Governmental Agencies among other organisations, are attending the workshop. Mrs Damptey said there is the need to document such health- related problems for national planning and management programmes. The health problems identified so far include cancers, birth defects, still births, brain damage and miscarriages. She called for education especially for women on the proper handling of such chemicals since "the mishandling of such chemicals by a woman could put a whole family in danger".