Studies on the impact of pesticide use by Lapanday Agricultural Development Corporation (LADECO) on a nearby village, Kamukhaan, Digos, Davao del Sur, started in 1997 when Pesticide Action Network Philippines was approached by a local organization seeking for help.
A series of fact-finding missions led by a local multi-sectoral organization (Citizens Alliance Unified for Sectoral Empowerment) and Dr. Romeo Quijano of PAN Philippines revealed that 150 families or 700 individuals in Kamukhaan are being poisoned by the use of toxic pesticides, herbicides and fungicides such as paraquat, mancozeb, maneb, carbofuran, glyphosate and Ddazinon. Some of these pesticides have been banned in several countries.
The findings of PAN Philippines, which included impacts of pesticide use on the residents, agricultural workers, and the environment, were based on medical examinations and testimonies from the villagers. Based on these findings, the article “Poisoned Lives” by Dr. Quijano and his daughter was published in the Philippine Post last March 6, 2000—and became the subject of a lawsuit that attracted international attention on the reality of pesticides use in the Philippines.
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