Actual Circumstances of Pesticide Residue Monitoring in the Philippines

Abstract

Government organization actually working on pesticide residue in the Philippines is as follows: Bureau of Plant Industry (BPI), Department of Agriculture has the Central Pesticide Analytical Laboratory (PAL) in Manila and four Satellite PALs in major areas of the country. These laboratories are expected to generate baseline pesticide data in order to establish national MRLs through conducting pesticide residue surveys at each regions by well-trained experts which would contribute to the formation of pesticide regulatory policies. The analytical capability of the BPI laboratories, however, has considerably declined due to the aging facilities and equipment. On the other hand, with the introduction of new pesticides on the market, requirements for improved analytical capability are urgently needed everyday. Accordingly, it is necessary for the BPI laboratories to introduce modern equipment and to upgrade their facilities, which may well derive technical innovation. In addition, the Philippines does not have its own legal standards of pesticide residue tolerance (or MRLs) at the moment due to insufficiency in data collection needed for the establishment of the tolerance. Therefore, the Philippines is still in a condition that people are not sure whether actual pesticide residues in food are tolerable or not. Absence of such standards leaves the government in a difficult position without legal and scientific basis to guide the farmers and, therefore, is a major cause of ineffective regulation policy. In the meantime, the indiscriminate application of pesicide has caused substantial problems, such as hazards to human health and the environment if setting aside residues in food. Thus, the establishment of MRLs by the government for the reasonable pesticide policy is really urgent. During my stay there for two years (1991–1993) as an expert sent by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), upgrading and modernization of PAL facilities were remarkably progressed by implementation of the JICA project. Analytical capabilities of the PALs will be much improved this way in terms of precision, accuracy and capacity, and the national network on pesticide monitoring will be strengthened. Data generated from the network will accelerate the establishment of national MRLs. © 1994, Pesticide Science Society of Japan. All rights reserved.