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In Kenya, there are new reports highlighting concerns over harmful pesticides used in food production and the impact this will have on people’s health. Moina Spooner, from The Conversation Africa, asked Ibrahim Macharia to shed light on Kenya’s pesticide use and what must be done to manage it better.
What types of pesticides are being used in Kenya and are there any that are of particular concern?
There’s a long list of pesticides, about 1,345 products, that are registered for use in crop production in Kenya. From this list, 11 pesticides are classified as highly hazardous by the World Health Organisation and 237 as moderately hazardous. For instance, some are classified as cancer-causing (24), prone to causing mutations in DNA (24), creating developmental disorders (35), disrupting the nervous system (140) and showing clear effects on reproduction (262).
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