Mindanao farmers ask DOH chief to ban aerial spray

MANILA, Philippines - Mindanao farmers asked the Departmetn of Health yesterday to work for the banning of aerial spraying of pesticides in banana plantations in the region, saying that this gravely affects their health and other crops.

Banded together as Mama­mayan Ayaw sa Aerial Spraying, the farmers said that DOH Secretary Francisco Duque III should act “with utmost urgency to remedy the health and environmental injustice caused by the aerial spraying of pesticides in banana plantations in Mindanao.”

“We hope Secretary Duque will stand by the DOH’s own study and recommendation to ban aerial spraying and carry out his duty to protect the health of the people because so many lives are at risk,” MAAS president Cecilia Moran noted in a statement released by the National Task Force Against Aerial Spraying and EcoWaste Coalition.

Armed with streamers and improvised gas masks, farmers, mostly coming from Davao City, have staged a rally in front of the DOH central office in Manila yesterday to dramatize their demands.

Moran said that Duque should issue a “health advisory” about the menace of aerial spraying. – Sheila Crisostomo