Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Stop using carbofuran or it will kill your child

carbofuran poison killCarbofuran is a highly toxic pesticide, it is mostly used on crops such as bananas, potatoes, corn, rice and soybeans. But did you know that it is also used as a poison to kill coyotes and lions in africa? Carbofuran is a neurotoxin, and these neurotoxins specifically target nerve cells causing paralysis rapidly and ultimately death.

Carbofuran or most commonly known as Furadan is preferred by most farmers because it is very effective against insects and pesticides and they believe that it would lead to better crop yield, but most farmers do not know the consequences of using Carbofuran. Carbofuran comes in 2 forms one granular and the other in its liquid form. The granular form of Carbofuran was banned by U.S Environmental Protection Agency in 1991 because it was blamed as the cause of deaths of millions of birds in America. Birds easily mistake a Carbofuran grain for a seed so they tend to eat them which was the main reason for their deaths. The liquid form is as hazardous as the granular form but there are less chances of it being ingested by animals. The U.S environmental protection agency is planning to ban Carbofuran in all it's form because of the hazards in can cause.

Despite the dangers of Carbofuran, most farmers all over the world are still willing to use it. The reason of which is because there is a lack of education about Carbofuran and it's side effects. Farmers which come from third world countries often are not aware of the risk they are taking by using this product and some of them prefer to take the chance because they really have no choice because their governments lack the programs to introduce environment friendly and natural alternatives to combating pesticides.

One incident in Kenya demonstrates just how uneducated farmers are about Carbofuran or Furadan. A three year old child was allegedly poisoned by Carbofuran after consuming it on October 26,2009. The boys name was Kimutai, he was the son of Nahashon Kigai a native famer of Kenya. Nashashon Kigai bought the Carbofuran months before the incident because he was planning to use it on his crops. In an interview Nashashon stated that although he knew that Carbofuran was toxic on insects, he had no idea that they are harmful to human beings.

Incidents like these will always remind us that our children will pay the price if we continue to poison the earth. I'm Nasashon Kigai will have learn this lesson by now. One thing is for sure, Carbofuran is a poison and should not be use on our crops.


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