HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES LIST

By: KULTIDA SAMABUDDHI
Published: 18/02/2009 at 12:00 AM

Newspaper section: NewsThe National Innovation Agency and natural pesticide producers are demanding the immediate removal of plant-based pesticides from the hazardous substances list.

A bottle of Ritneem, a botanical plant control agent extracted from the neem plant, is shown during a press conference on the listing of 13 Thai herbs as hazardous substances. Neem, or sadao in Thailand, is on the list. The conference was held at the National Innovation Agency, Ministry of Science and Technology yesterday. PATTANAPONG HIRUNARD
The inclusion of natural pesticides made from widely used herbs on the list would be a serious blow to research and commercial production of herbal products, said Supachai Lorlowhakarn, director of the NIA, which comes under the Science and Technology Ministry.

"Their listing has created a lot of confusion and misled many users and importers into believing that herbal plants were dangerous, so it should be revised as soon as possible," said Mr Supachai.

Health agencies and farmers' groups have also come out to attack the hazardous substance committee over the listing of natural pesticides made from 13 plants as hazardous substance type 1 under the 1992 Hazardous Substances Act.

Mr Somchai agreed with the department that there was a need to control the quality of natural pesticides, "but declaring them as hazardous substances is not the right solution to the problem".

"Controlling their quality and cracking down on producers of substandard products could still be done without having them listed as hazardous substances," he said.

Restricting the use of herbal plants would obstruct research and development work and kill the country's chances of becoming a major producer and exporter of natural plant control products.

The NIA has been credited with several research and development projects on plant-based pesticides and for supporting their production on a commercial scale.

It recently lent a company 27 million baht to build a 43-million-baht factory to produce a neem tree extract. The announcement could undermine and dishearten the firm as well as other small-scale producers.

Unchalee Sanguanpong, director of the Institute of Research and Development at Rajamangala University of Technology Thanyaburi, said the listed natural pesticides were safe for use.

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By Bangkok Post On 18 Feb 2009

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