By Penelope A. Domogo, MD
Some years ago, we were on a field visit to Paracelis, the easternmost municipality of Mountain Province. We were puzzled that for all its vast arable fertile land, some of its barangays had a high prevalence of underweight children. We noted the hectares and hectares of cornfields and wondered why we did not see any talong, okra or otong or ampalaya planted along its fringes. In western Mountain Province, where arable land is limited, residents would plant a variety of vegetables in every available land. When we were young children, we would accompany our parents during summer to Banao or Guinatangan to dig camote, then plant camote again and beans and corn. By rainy season we would have a bountiful harvest from those small land areas. So in Paracelis, we asked why there were no lowland vegetables around. The vegetables in their market were wombok, cabbage, carrots, sayote, obviously not locally produced. We were told that the herbicide they sprayed to the cornfields was so strong that it killed any vegetable within six kilometers if the wind drifted it in that direction! It’s scary. That herbicide or weedkiller is glyphosate.
I looked for corn to eat, but I was told that those corn we saw are not for people! What? So that’s where the yellow corn grits come from, some if it anyway. If these vegetables are killed by the herbicide, how come the yellow corn is not? Because this corn is genetically-modified to survive this glyphosate. The corn is manipulated in the laboratory to withstand glyphosate. So for those “native” vegetables which are as natural as can be, they have no defense. Poor things. But poorer the people because they have to import their vegetables.
At that time, the popular herbicide for the cornfields was the brand Roundup. Now I see a lot of adverstisements for glyphosate along the highways of Halsema and Paracelis- brand names Triple 8, Sincera, etc. Glyphosate is the most popular weedkiller all over the world. Now the question, if glyphosate kills plants (it kills vegetables, too), what is our guarantee that it will not also harm other living things like us, people? No guarantee. In fact in 2015 the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) of the World Health Organization classified glyphosate as a probable carcinogen. “Probable” means there are evidences to show it can cause cancer. In other words, there’s a risk. There’s already a lawsuit filed in California against Monsanto (producer of Roundup) for allegedly hiding the cancer-causing dangers of its Roundup herbicide products.
With the massive use of glyphosate all over the world, glyphosate residues are now found in our food, including those popular highly processed foods! So here’s another reason to avoid those brightly-packaged foods in the store. If glyphosate has already contaminated our mass-produced food, what do you think of the other chemicals?
What about the synthetic pesticides which many farmers use to “pockshot” the worms, aphids, flies, bacteria, etc? What about fungicides? It is sad that the default mode of people nowadays for any problem is to kill the enemy. Let’s take the case of infections – whether of people or animals, our first reaction is to give antibiotics. Tuberculosis? Take antibiotics. Malaria? Spray insecticide. Worms in your pechay? Spray pesticide. Fungus in your tomatoes? Spray fungicides. We have been doing these for many decades and what is the result? Are we winning the war against all these little creatures? Nope. The scary thing is that we are breeding bacteria and other minute creatures that are immune to these chemicals. We now have antiobiotic-resistant tuberculosis, supermosquitoes and pests that can’t be killed by present-day insecticides.
As we discussed in previous issues, these synthetic chemicals that farmers spray to their plants so they can have more harvest are toxic to humans and the environment. There are a lot of international studies on these. In the local scene, the late Dr. Charles Cheng conducted many researches on pesticide effects in Benguet area. These studies show evidence of health risks like skin problems, cancer, nervous system diseases and reproductive problems. So farmers using chemical methods may be getting more profit in the short term but at the cost of disease and environmental degradation.
Another thing we have to worry about regarding use of weedkillers or herbicides is the emergence of superweeds. These plants that we call “weeds” are actually food, if not for people then for animals. I remember the grass that are dried up by herbicides are food for rabbits or cattle. Who thinks that we can wipe out what was created by the Supreme Being? All things created by God have their own role to play in our complex ecosystem. So, just like us, they are built to survive. What we need to discern is how to live in harmony with these teeny-weeny creatures. Well, we don’t really have to crack our brains to know how to live in harmony with the Universe. Our forefathers have already discerned this and all we need to do is listen and be mindful. And we all need to be in this organic movement together because pesticide pollution does not only occur in the gardens. Pesticides, fungicides, herbicides vaporize to our air and leech to our waters even to our drinking waters. For after all, there is only one Mother Earth where we circulate.**
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“How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in harmony.” Psalm 133:1
