Crack down on pesticide deaths

People who circumvent safety regulations by selling pesticides on the black market must be stopped

Using pesticides based on aluminium phosphide in homes has caused many deaths. Courtesy - Dubai Municipality

Deaths from pesticide poisoning are not just depressingly regular occurrences in this country but doubly tragic for being entirely avoidable. As we reported this week, 10 people have died in the past year in Dubai from breathing in a pesticide containing aluminium phosphide, which is designed to be used on palm plantations and should never be used in residential buildings.

The regularity of these kinds of deaths would normally prompt calls for tougher controls on the pesticide industry, but the industry is already subject to stringent government oversight. As our report noted, this type of pesticide can only to be used by licensed companies and is banned from being used in homes. In every instance, Dubai Municipality had to approve its use, know when and where it would be deployed, and officials from the municipality would be present when it was used. A hotline is available if people suspect neighbours are using a banned pesticide.

The problem seems to be that low-paid and poorly-educated workers who live in homes afflicted by pests such as bedbugs are buying this kind of pesticide on the black market, with tragic consequences. Targeting the buyers is unlikely to solve the problem because people on this end of the economic spectrum will always seek cheap and easy ways to solve their infestation problems without realising the serious risks they are running.

For nearly every expatriate who dies in this way, there is likely to be a family back home who are relying on their earnings and for whom losing a loved one becomes a double tragedy. But while an education drive for potential buyers of pesticides would help, the primary focus for the authorities ought to be on those who sell these controlled pesticides on the black market.

Those who know of the deadly potential of aluminium phosphide pesticides and opt to make money by selling it to those who do not appreciate the risks should be identified and prosecuted. Anything sold via the black market is, by nature, difficult to track down but the depressing regularity of deaths from pesticide poisonings demand that the authorities make this a priority.