Farmworkers 'poisoning babies'

2006-08-08 07:20

Sharon Hammond

Nelspruit - Female farmworkers are inadvertently poisoning their babies because their breast milk has traces of pesticides, said deputy environmental affairs and tourism minister Rejoice Mabudafhasi.

Addressing the second annual Women and Environment Conference that started in Mpumalanga on Monday, she said studies in many countries had found a higher number of deaths and abnormalities among the children of farmworkers exposed to pesticides.

"There is also scientific proof that women exposed to hazardous chemicals and polluted air were found to give birth to children with delayed post natal development and dramatically lower intelligence quotients," she said.

She said polluted water also kills more than three million people in the world every year, most of whom are women and children.

Provincial agriculture and land administration MEC Madala Masuku told the same conference that Mpumalanga's executive council had just taken a decision to create a "pristine" environment.

All MECs are visiting Mpumalanga's twin province of Alberta in Canada to learn how they manage air pollution and waste disposal.

Five MECs have already visited Alberta, while another five are scheduled to conduct the same tour from August 14 to 18.

"The province is taking issues of environmental management very seriously," he said. "We have decided to involve all members of the executive council in environmental issues."

The Women and Environment Conference, which is being held in White River, aims to give women more of a say in policy-making and environmental governance and is being held under the theme, "Empowering Women for Environmental Action".

The inaugural conference took place in March last year when women and even young girls were invited to share their environmental concerns.

MEC Masuku noted that the survival of women and their communities depended on their access and control of natural resources like land, water and plants.

"Women perform the majority of the world's agricultural work," he said. "However, despite their crucial contribution, women have been sidelined in policy and decision-making."

Mabudafhasi said that the next Women and Environment Conference would include the disabled.

Each of the nine provinces is also expected to hold provincial conferences on women and the environment. Limpopo and Free State are the only provinces to have done so thus far.

- African Eye