European companies supply Nigeria with pesticides that are banned in the EU and are believed to cause cancer and neurological diseases. This was reported by Bloomberg.
“There’s substantial scientific proof of links between certain chemicals banned by the European Union and the development of health conditions such as cancer and neurological disorders,” Muhammad Kabir Musa, a public health expert at the University of Michigan, told Bloomberg.
According to the non-profit organization Alliance for Action on Pesticides in Nigeria (AAPN), which advocates for the gradual phase-out of highly hazardous pesticides, more than half of the agrochemicals used in the country pose a major threat to human health. Forty percent of them are banned in Europe. Among the substances supplied to Nigeria are mancozeb, atrazine, and paraquat, which are banned in the EU. AAPN claims that at least 450 people have died in Nigeria between 2008 and 2022 due to pesticide exposure.
Bloomberg tells the story of local farmer Abdullahi Yusuf. His 12-year-old daughter died of leukemia, which local doctors attribute to pesticides. The girl ate vegetables and fruits grown by her father, who treated them with dangerous chemicals without knowing it. The publication states that many small farmers in Nigeria are forced to use cheap pesticides because they have no safe alternative.
It notes that Nigeria is unable to control the flow of dangerous pesticides into the country. The national database on chemicals is inaccessible, and planned bans on paraquat and atrazine are not being enforced. At the same time, the lobby group CropLife Nigeria, representing the interests of large pesticide manufacturers, has joined the proposed government council to control their use. Experts fear that this will allow companies to influence policy in their favor.
“No one is taking actual responsibility. Companies that can’t sell their poisons in Europe are flooding our markets with them,” said Edem Eniang, professor of biology at the University of Uyo in Nigeria. Bloomberg emphasizes that the AAPN is preparing an alternative bill that tightens controls and sets a timetable for phasing out hazardous substances.
