ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Food Security and Research (MoFS&R) is fumigating imported cotton and other goods with toxic Methyl Bromide in open trucks at the Chaman Border. At a time when the ministry has not allowed the import of Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) soybean oilseeds to produce edible oil and poultry feed, the fumigation has raised eyebrows over the internal consistency of the ministry’s policies.
The fumigation of imported agricultural inputs with Methyl Bromide is a general policy, but the problem in the current situation is that the cotton being fumigated is open on trucks bringing it in from the Afghanistan border. The fumigation process is supposed to be completed with airtight containers since the substance is harmful to human health.
Images and visuals made available to Profit have shown the cotton being fumigated on top of open trucks. Importers have claimed that the ministry is doing this to charge hefty charges from them at the border. Since the fumigation is a requirement, the ministry charges importers for doing this. However, it is being done without due diligence and in sheer sheer violation of the rules.
As per experts the fumigation of open trucks is not as per international standards as the open trucks can never be airtight and through this process applied fumigants get leaked and spread in the air and surroundings that may cause serious health issues for general workers and people living in nearby areas.
“Furthermore the fumigation in such a process becomes ineffective and just a waste of time and resources. There is no need for mandatory fumigation with methyl bromide. Only if the quarantine pest is identified after inspection, the fumigation with methyl bromide can be exercised,” said one source.”The fumigation can only be done in airtight structures like containers and enclosed fumigation chambers.”
As the visuals show some cotton bales are even visible from outside of the trucks. In this situation, fumigant will spread in the air and will cause damage to the exposed people i.e cancer and other skin disease and ultimately will damage the ozone layer and will damage the environment.
Methyl Bromide
As per documents, the excessive and misuse of methyl bromide can damage the ozone layer causing sun rays to reach earth directly. Besides, the spread of Methyl Bromide damages human health as it causes cancer to exposed persons. Recently, Methyl Bromide was in the news because of the recent kerfuffle over GMO soybean oilseeds stuck at Port Qasim in Karachi. The government had stopped shipments of the oilseeds triggering panic in the edible oil and poultry industries — both of which are dependent on the oilseeds. News had come in that to deal with the GMO issue, the oilseeds were being fumigated with Methyl Bromide — which can cause serious harm to human health.
According to sources, the unnecessary fumigation of trucks, the supply of goods to market also get delayed as after fumigation, the trucks are bound to stay for 72 hours for exposure and if trucks are released without fulfilling the condition of 72 hours, as mentioned in import permit, it will be noncompliance of import permit conditions.
As the images show cotton trash in the consignment, which as per the rules of Department of Plant Protection (DPP), an attached department of MoFS&R, also needed biosecurity clearance by the relevant department.
As per the rules, in case of any cotton trash in the consignment, biosecurity clearance of the consignment shall be subject to followings: a) Treatment with Methyl Bromide at 80 g/m 3 for 48 hours at 21 o C at the port of arrival. b) Transportation of treated consignment in sealed and secure containers to the DPP approved arrangement site of the importer. c) Complete isolation of consignment from consignment with zero trashes before processing. d) After processing, screened trash will be collected and burnt.
When contacted Director Quarantine of DPP, Sohail Shehzad admitted that the fumigation of open trucks was not allowed as per rule. He said that the consignments, being fumigated, should be airtight as per rules. He, however, claimed that he was not aware of the situation at Chaman Border. “I will check and get back to you,” he said. However, he did not respond till the filing of this report.
The Director General of DPP Alla Dita denied such things are happening at Chaman border.
What is the fumigation issue?
The fumigation process, which is aimed at avoiding pests in imported consignments, is interestingly carried out by all private firms. The private firms, apart from committing other violations of rules, are alleged to charge importers/exporters extra charges for fumigation of their consignments at ports.
An inquiry committee of MoFS&R, constituted to investigate ‘hegemony’ of private firms in DPP, in its report, prepared by a committee on the directives of Prime Minister secretariat, had revealed how a powerful mafia is practically runs the DDP affairs, especially the major role of the department, the fumigation process of all imported and exported agriculture items.
As per the report, “Inquiry Report on Methyl–Bromide Registration and Import for Phytosanitary Fumigation,” DPP is influenced and practically run by the fumigators who virtually control the entire value chain of the business. Such regulatory capture is generally associated with a high level of corruption.
The committee has informed that interestingly, the importer of Methyl Bromide (MB) and fumigating companies were all one party due to which not only there is a monopoly but also higher cost being charged to importers/exporters by the fumigators.
If fumigators collude with the department, it will increase the cost of imports and exports and lead to unreasonable profits. The fumigators have successfully maneuvered and practically taken over DPP’s regulatory functions.
“It is a classic case of regulatory capture by the private sector. An organization with regulatory power to either stop a ship from sailing or stop one from unloading can play havoc if it does not maintain a high level of organizational integrity,” the report says.
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