expired pesticides discovered during raids

Huge volumes of expired pesticides have been uncovered during an adhoc operation the Environmental Affairs Department and Pesticides Control Board conducted in Lilongwe and Blantyre.

The pesticides, some with falsified expiry dates,  raise fears of possible environmental hazards and loss of ‘money’ for many customers.

According to a report we have seen, an inspection team involving environmental officers, officials from Pesticides Control Board and the police visited a company, Farmers Organisation Limited (FOL) in Blantyre on March 18 where it allegedly uncovered the expired chemicals.

But the company attributed the presence of expired pesticides to human error and their supplier, adding that they have sent a query to their supplier on the expiry dates.

The findings allege that the company had huge volumes of expired pesticides on shelf for sale and in warehouses as well as another volume with alleged falsified labels and expiry dates, according to a report prepared by the Environmental Affairs Department dated March 20 2018.

Reads the report: “Some pesticides such as Stellar Star in 0.08 L bottles had expired in 2017 yet the company pasted a new sticker indicating that the product is still viable. The product was even placed on display counter; some products such as Mancozeb 800 WP in 250g sachets; Belt in 12 X 1litre cartons;   Carbaryl 850 WP; Silwet; Steam-S1  in 25 kg jerry cans, among others, had expired, but were found in the warehouse awaiting sales.

“The proper practice is that expired products should be put in quarantine awaiting disposal; the team also discovered a 20 foot container outside the warehouse containing a few expired products, unused containers and other unwanted items; and most of the products did not have labels in local languages for easy use by customers who do not understand English.”

The team also launched a raid on a company, Osho Chemicals, in Lilongwe earlier on March 9 where it also found alleged expired chemicals according to the report.

In an interview, spokesperson for the Ministry responsible for Environmental Affairs, Sangwani Phiri, confirmed the raids, saying the matter has now been referred to the Director of Public Prosecutions.

He also said the two companies have been asked to facilitate the shipment of the condemned consignments to either Zambia or Kenya because Malawi does not have the capacity to dispose of such chemicals. Phiri said their investigations showed that the chemicals have been on the market for over three years after the expiry dates.

For the Blantyre-based company, the report we have seen quotes the company’s operations manager to have admitted that there were some human errors on their part in terms of quarantining expired products which could easily lead to selling to the general public expired products. The report further indicates that on the labelled products on display at their shop, the manager “feigned ignorance and could not provide a valid reason why the products have new labels yet they are expired”.

In an interview with Nation on Sunday, FOL operations manager Ronald Chilumpha said they have referred the matter to their suppliers for explanation.

He admitted to have been storing expired products which he said were quarantined in the same warehouse with other viable products to the dissatisfaction of the authority. On labelling expired items, Chilumpha said it was not of their own making but their supplier.

“The issue was that the labels had two expiry dates.  We have sent a query to the supplier…on disposal of expired items you and me know that Malawi has no capacity so we are looking at possible ways. We have identified an incinerator at St. Gabriel in Namitete so we are talking to them,” he said.

On the Lilongwe company, the report reads: “Upon investigations, the officers discovered that the company had two full 20-foot containers and a store room containing expired products [chemicals and pesticides] with some of the bottles stripped off of their labels, and almost a quarter full 20 foot container containing pesticide labels”

The report further quotes the company’s technical manager Duncan Kathinji, who is said to have informed the team that since its opening in 2015, the company had been quarantining expired products in the containers as well as  store room, awaiting instructions and directions from their headquarters in Kenya, as the products have only a two-year shelf life.

According to the report, Kathinji also informed the team that Osho Chemicals Kenya had sent the Malawi office pesticide labels with the hope that the expired products could be re-labelled but upon learning that relabelling was prohibited in Malawi, the project was abandoned.

When contacted for  comment in a telephone interview on Friday, Kathinji said negotiations with government agencies were in progress to resolve the matter.

He refused taking more questions, saying “I will come back to you after we solve the issue. I will not comment much on that for now please. We can talk later”.

Registrar for Pesticides Control Board Mischeck Soko claimed that Osho had a huge quantity of the condemned chemicals as compared to FOL.

Asked why this seem to have been  happening in the presence of the board mandated to control such anomalies, Soko blamed low staffing levels as an issue.

“Of course we have some challenges, human capacity but each time we are taking steps to improve. It is my expectation that the Pesticides Bill which has just passed  will enable us to manage such situations well as it has additional mandate to the board to manage the situation,” he said.

The Bill in question was approved by Parliament during the budget meeting last year and, among other important areas, it comprehensively empowers the board on how to deal with issues of stockpiling and importation of pesticides. But the Bill is yet to be accented to by the State President according to Soko.

The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions has confirmed receiving a report for beginning of prosecution proceedings, according to Senior State Advocate Pirirani Masanjala who speaks for the office.

Storage, selling and re-labelling of expired chemical products is an offence under the laws of Malawi under the Pesticides Act and the Environmental Act.

According to a Journal of Food, Agriculture and Environment, expired pesticides have far reaching consequences on the environment as they contaminate water and possibly affect aquatic life and the ecosystem in general. n