The Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board (PTCCB) says the purchase of pesticide and other toxic chemicals from roadside vendors is dangerous to health and against the law. The law requires vendors to be certified before they sell.
Samples awaiting analysis at the PTCCB laboratory facilities, Mon Repos, East Coast Demerara
Chemist II of the PTCCB, Morris Solomon, told the Government Information Agency (GINA) that the PTCCB ought to clear pesticides and chemicals coming into the country but, very often the Board is not aware of the products being offered for sale by street vendors and would not know what is in them.
Solomon said that the PTCCB continues to tackle the illegal practice with constant monitoring and enforcement activities. He said citizens need to be aware of the dangers posed to their health and called on members of the public to help in the fight against the illegal practice which can result in death and injury.
Morris Solomon
“Those pesticide products selling on the road, it’s illegal to purchase them. You do find vendors from time to time still selling the rat bait and so on and even in our enforcement activities we get them off tomorrow, two more would come. If you are going to purchase a pesticide, if you are going to purchase rat bait, if you are going to purchase ant bait, go to those legal vendors out there,” Solomon urged.
Persons can contact the pesticide board for information on where authorized vendors are located.
Solomon said importers of pesticides need to ensure the conform with the law by registering their products with the PTCCB which does the necessary analyses before issuing a certificate approving sale of the product locally.
“For a pesticide to be registered, certain administrative conditions should be met. One in particular, they should submit a dossier of all the scientific data on that particular product which is then verified by the PTCCB in addition to other admin’ aspects of it,” the chemist explained
The Pesticides and Toxic Chemicals Control Board was established in 2000 to manage pesticides and toxic chemicals in Guyana and to ensure that what reaches the end user is legal and does not pose a severe risk to human health.
This week has been designated ‘Pesticides Awareness Week’. The theme is, ‘Managing pesticides responsibly – adapt to climate change’.
