AgroChemical Use in Michoacn, Mexico

1
Agro-Chemical Use in Michoacán, Mexico
2
Transition to Blackberry Production
3
Blackberry Row
4
Chile
5
USA
6
USA
7
Mexican
8
Mexican
9
Mexican
10
Chile
11
USA
12
Chile
13

Global Berry Farms
AGRICOLA LOS REYES
GARABAY MORALES IRMA
14
The Berry Labor Force

• 20 of workers attain full-time jobs
• The remainder are temporary workers who may work
  up to 15 hours per day

15
Expansion of Berry Production

• Blackberries Raspberries (2006)
• 2500-3000 hectares
• ¾ of land is rented
• 800-1000 growers
• 6.5 million boxes of berries per year
• Annual profits of 46,742,720

16
Company Ideology

• Companies support growers with resources who can
  make technological investments, and who
  demonstrate productive success credit depends on
  productive efficiency
• Hursts manager The zone is like an
  industrythis is very important at the
  international level. I am not going to risk it.
  They have to be successful first. This is a
  business. We are not like Santa Claus!

17
Concentration of Land, Wealth, Resources

• Small-scale growers often lack funds to install
  irrigation systems, tunnels, packing sheds,
  dining sheds, sheds to store chemical containers,
  portable bathrooms, and drinking water and
  bathing facilities in the field
• Wealthy, large-scale growers in Los Reyes are
  renting up land of small-scale growers in Los
  Angeles

18
Vertical Control

• Berry companies impose a vertically integrated
  hierarchy of power relations on growers.
  Companies contract growers to reduce risks of
  production, while maintaining control through
  prices, credit, and acceptance or rejection of
  fruit.
• Growers, in turn, transfer their lack of control
  over prices to field workers.
• It is the berry picker at the bottom of this
  chain of command who must put in excessive hours,
  risk her health, and accept inferior wages, a
  mere pittance in comparison with the humongous
  profits earned by the agroexport industry.

19
The Wages of Work
20
(No Transcript)
21
(No Transcript)
22
(No Transcript)
23
(No Transcript)
24
(No Transcript)
25
Tarascan Berry Pickers
26

• Ten Boxes
• 10.90 Dollars Per Day
• 1.09 Per Box
• .09 Cents Per
• Container (note price code)

27
Byerlys, St. Cloud, MN
28
(No Transcript)
29
(No Transcript)
30
(No Transcript)
31
(No Transcript)
32
(No Transcript)
33
(No Transcript)
34
WHO Labels

• GREEN Slightly Toxic (III)
• BLUE Moderately Toxic (II)
• YELLOW Highly Toxic (Ib)
• RED Extremely Toxic (Ia)

35
Organophosphates
Chlorinated Hydrocarbons

• Persistant (some for decades)
• Less toxic

• Non-persistant
• More readily absorbed into the skin

36
Methyl Parathion (insecticide)

• 80 of all pesticide poisonings
• EPA cancelled for use on
• 20 fruits vegetables
• Cholinesterase inhibitor disrupts neural function
  by inhibiting the essential enzyme
  acetylcholinesterase
• Metabolizes into paraoxin resulting in headaches,
  convulsions, poor vision, vomiting, abdominal
  pain, severe diarrhea, unconsciousness, tremor,
  shortness of breath, lung edima, respiratory
  arrest
• 1 teaspoon left on skin
• for several hours is fatal

37
Foley 50 (insecticida)
2000

• Paratión metilico, -Peligro Veneno-
• Ingredientes Activos Paratión Metílico
  0.0-dimetil -0.4 nitrofenil fosforotioato
  (Methyl parathion dimethyl ntirofenyl
  phosphorothioate)
• REG. RSCO-INAC-0155-010-009-047

38
Gusathion (insecticide)

• Azinphos methyl
• Proper functioning of the nervous system requires
  an enzyme cholinesterase (ChE), which facilitates
  the transmission of nerve impulses
• ChE-inhibiting pesticides disable this enzyme,
  resulting in symptoms of neurotoxicity---tremors,
  nausea, and weakness at low doses paralysis and
  death at higher doses

39
Malathion (insecticide)

• Diethyl butanedioate
• Breaks down into malaoxon, which is 60 times more
  toxic than malathion
• This occurs in untreated water should not be
  used in drinking water
• Carcinogenic, gene mutations, suppression of
  immune system

40
Premier (insecticide)

• Permethrine
• Banned in Canada
• Tremors, incoordination, elevated body
  temperature, increased aggressive behavior,
  disruption of learning more toxic in children
  than adults
• Carcinogenic, immune system inhibitor, chromosome
  aberrations

41
Cipermetrina (insecticide)

• Cypermethrin, alpha cypermethrin,
• deltamethrin
• In US must be used by certified applicators
• Numbness, tingling, itching, burning sensation,
  loss of bladder control, incoordination,
  seizures, affects central nervous system,
  possible death

42
Sevin (insecticide)

• Carbaryl
• Causes birth defects in mammals
• Worsens hypertension for people on
  anti-depressant drugs
• Impairs the function of the pituitary gland,
  thyroid gland, reproductive system
• Causes hyperactivity learning disabilities in
  mammals
• Could increase the chance of heart attack in
  people with weak hearts
• Breaks down into nitrosocarbaryl, a potent
  cancer-causing agent
• Causes irreversible chromosomal damage to human
  DNA

43
Fusion Gramocil (herbicide)

• Glyphosate isopropylamine
• Paraquat Diuron
• Glyphosate is an ingredient
• in Roundup
• Restricted Use

44
Machete Noble (herbicide)

• Glyphosate
• Glyphosates are organophosphatesbut do not affect
  the central nervous system like other
  organo-phosphates

45
Knockout (herbicide)

• Glyphosate
• But most glyphosate products contain
  polyoxyethyleneamines that irritate the
  respiratory tract, eyes
• skin
• Dioxane is a suspected carcinogen

46
Anaquat Sagaquat (herbicide)

• Paraquat
• amatrine, triazine
• Headache, nausea, nail loss, rashes, ulcers,
  nosebleeds, eye irritation, sweating
• Liver, lung, heart, kidney failure, death
• 1 teaspoon is fatal no antidote

47
Karmex (herbicide)

• Diuron
• dichlorophenyl
• Skin, eye respiratory
• irritant
• Limited carcinogenic

48
Eslamina (herbicide)

• 2,4-D Dichlorophenoxyacetic acid Derived from
  Agent Orange
• Health symptoms are vomiting, diarrhea, anorexia,
  ulcers of the mouth and pharynx
• Immunotoxin, carcinogen, suspected mutagen,
  endocrine disrupting effects that cause damages
  to liver, kidney central nervous system can
  cause death

49
Binolate (fungicide)

• Benomyl, decomposition product methyl
  benzimidazole carbamate
• Birth defects, endocrine-disrupting effects
• Affects hormone-secreting glands that direct
  function of body organs, including nervous
  response, metabolism, and reproduction
• Terminated by DuPont in 2001 due to numerous
  lawsuits (yet on sale in Los Reyes, Michoacán
  store)

50
Oximet (fungicide)

• Copper oxychloride cobre metilico
• Hepatic cirrhosis, brain damage, demyelination,
  kidney defects, copper deposition in the cornea

51
Captan (fungicide)

• Phthalimide
• WHO class IV
• Low toxicity
• Burning, itching,
• tearing of eyes

52

• Workers reported suffering dizziness, allergic
  rashes, red eyes, runny noses, headaches, and
  sore throats
• Aye! How awful it smells!
  But what am I going to do?
  I have to support my kids
• Cheli
• Some horror stories

No women workers knew what chemicals they were
exposed to
53
(No Transcript)
54
Externalities

• Exposure of women to these dangerous chemicals
  poses the invisible health risk of womens berry
  work
• The conceptual separation of people and nature
  carries an inherent danger
• Pesticide poisoning becomes an externality
  whose costs to workers and the public remain
  uncontemplated
• Weak monitoring and long-term, chronic effects
  are poorly understood, yet the technological
  fix of agribusiness production simply neglects
  the hazards posed to human health

55
Agrochemicals the Export Market

• Hursts 6 rejections of fruit in 2004
• Sunny Ridge chloramphenicol residues in 2006
• Causes fatal aplastic anemia

56

• Proberries
• Procal (Productores para la Calidad
  de zarzamora)
• Protocol aim to assure the market
• They already closed the door to Guatemala and
  they can close the door to us too. They can
  reject the entire process of commercialization
  and eveything will end (Sanidad Vegetal)

57
The Protocol

• Protocolo para la implementación de las Buenas
  Prácticas Agrícolas y de Manejo en los procesos
  de producción, cosecha y empacado de las
  frutillas Zarzamora (Rubus spp.), Frambuesa
  (Rubus idaeus) y Arándano (Vaccinium spp.)
• Water for agriculture, application of pesticides,
  washing machinery, tools, installations, human
  consumption
• Infrastructure of the production unit center of
  acopio
• Dining (disinfection, garbage, animals)
• Disease control
• Former land use
• Harvest
• Packing
• Transport of fruit to center of acopio
• Agrochemicals
• Workers (hygiene, safety, training)

58
Right to a Safe Work Environment
Codex Alimentarius (MRL) Eurepgap USgap EPA
Regulates pesticides on plants FDA Inspects
imported food for pesticide residues USDA
Determines that crops are safe to grow
59
WTO rules foster an industrial agricultural
model that is at the heart of pesticide use

• Of 3,285 pesticides for which the Codex has
  standards, 1,539 are illegal in the United States
• MRL petitions submitted to NAFTA should conform
  to GAP standards
• Yet for blackberries, only three field tests are
  required for the 3,000 hectares in the Los Reyes
  region

60
Organic Berry Production?
Miel (honey or sugar cane syrup) stored in this
Coke bottle is a repellant for mayates (flying
beetle)
61
Organic Pesticides

• Biomed-R Garlic-based insect repellant for
  araña roja, white fly, etc.

• Insecti-Shield Botanical Product made from a
  venom found in the seeds of castor oil

62
Bacteria-based Pesticides

• Bathur Basillus thuringiensis
• (bacteria used as insecticide)
• Bauba Beauveria bassiana
• Metar Metachizium anisopliae (Entomopathogenic
  fungus, acts as a parasite of insects)

63
Organic Fertilizers

• Guanafol
• bat excrement, used as fertilizer
• Megagol Vegetable- based foliage stimulant
• Multiagro organic liquid worm humus with
  nutrients

64
Transnational Blackberry Agro-Industries

• Established hierarchies of power that reach into
  the packing sheds, berry fields, and households
  of men displaced from cane production and women
  freed for berry picking

65

• A political economy that fosters agribusiness,
  drawing scarce resources away from rural
  communities to provision consumers 1000s of
  miles away with luxury fruits, fails to enrich
  household and community life.

66

• Global forces maintain substandard wages, expose
  workers to dangerous chemicals, and incur
  tremendous costs of transporting global
  commodities,

not for local consumption, but for consumers who
will never realize the labor and human costs of
providing them those plastic containers filled
with delectable fruits