Pesticide paraquat will never come back, says Minister for Agriculture, Waterways and Environment Dr Mahendra Reddy.
He said this in Parliament yesterday while responding to a question by Opposition member of Parliament Aseri Radrodro who said paraquat was used by neighbouring islands such as Tonga and Samoa to increase their production.
He asked if the Agriculture Minister would consider reviewing the decision on the use of paraquat.
“Honourable member said to bring back paraquat to increase production, paraquat doesn’t increase production,” Mr Reddy said.
He said paraquat was a major health risk.
“Fiji Sugar Corporation (FSC) banned paraquat a long time ago because they found residues of paraquat in the sugar that was manufactured.
“The farmers in the United States are now saying that we should ban paraquat because it’s a possible cause of Alzheimer’s disease.
“There are a lot of health effects.” He said paraquat had also been found in vegetables that people consumed.
“There are a lot of journal articles published which demonstrate the link of paraquat to cancer, I just ask him to Google and see the effect of paraquat on health, cancer in particular.”
He said glyphosate was the substitute for paraquat.
“Farmers have been told and there are farmers, there are cooperative farmer, cooperatives, which are completely organic without paraquat use.”
