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Taking precautions

Apr 29,2017 - Last updated at Apr 29,2017

The United Arab Emirates has said it intends to impose a ban on the import of some vegetables from Jordan as of the middle of May unless they meet the standards signed in agreements between the two countries.

The move, “precautionary”, the UAE envoy to Jordan called it, is taken “to elevate the quality of imports and eliminate pathogens such as bacteria and pesticides residues”. 

Once exporters commit to the standards and signed agreement governing the matter, the UAE will lift the ban.

To that end, the government needs to take more stringent measures against the use of pesticides.

The UAE demands that imports of fruit and vegetables be coupled with certificates from our Ministry of Agriculture indicating that the produce is free from pesticide remnants. 

The UAE officials’ concern for the well-being of their citizens deserves to be commended and should be emulated.

The 3 per cent trace of pesticide mentioned by the minister of agriculture, tested on 15,000 samples of fruit and vegetables, may seem negligible to our officials, but they are obviously too much for the UAE, and that should give food for thought.

True, Jordan exports a big volume of produce to both Gulf countries and Europe, and that, the minister said, is proof that there are no health concerns, but even though, the signal from the UAE should not be simply dismissed, but used to further improve the quality of produce.

Authorities must make sure that all fruit and vegetables, and not just those for export, are safe. 

In animal studies, many pesticides are carcinogenic, while others are tumour promoters. Some contaminants in commercial pesticide formulations also may pose a carcinogenic risk.

Pesticides certainly help farmers, but there are cheaper and healthier alternatives, organic pesticides, that would be as effective. 

The Ministry of Agriculture, or any other authority mandated with checking the quality of produce, needs to properly supervise farmers, to ensure that what people eat meets national and international standards.

It should not take some action by an importing country to draw attention to the lax control of agricultural produce.

The health of the population should be of utmost concern, not least because it causes big material losses to the country. 

 

The government must make sure that national and international safety standards prescribed by World Health Organisation are strictly observed, both to protect the citizens’ health and to be able to export the country’s agricultural produce, which brings much-needed revenues that prop the economy.

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