BEIRUT: The Agriculture Ministry should declare a state of food emergency, said Beirut MP Mohammad Qabbani Sunday, following growing concern about poisoned fruits and vegetables in the local market.
Qabbani condemned the chaotic situation in Lebanon and accused the government and the country’s authorities of negligence in supervising agricultural products, calling the phenomenon a “mass” crime. Qabbani urged the judiciary and state supervisory bodies to intervene in the matter in order to determine who was responsible for the negligence and to punish them. “Those who collaborated in this affair with full knowledge of its dangers should be accused for being partners in a murder,” he said.
The MP also called on the authorities to immediately pass a food-safety draft law that was authored in 2003 and urged civil society to put pressure on politicians. He urged the organization Consumers Lebanon to step in and oversee the agricultural product sector.
“Stop your indifference and act. The danger not only threatens your neighbors it also threatens your life and the lives of your families,” he added, addressing the public.
But, head of the Association of the Farmers of the South, Hani Safieddine, asked politicians and officials not to exaggerate the matter and to deal with it in “a scientific and objective way.” Safieddine made the remarks at a news conference in Tyre on Sunday. “The random manner in which the case is being handled harms Lebanon’s agricultural reputation,” he said.
Safieddine added that the association was conducting tests to verify whether or not poisonous substances were present in food products and confirmed that no such substances were found so far in the south. He also called on the government to provide experts to handle the case.
Safieddine also said that the association would present a gentlemen’s agreement that would oblige farmers to abide by international agricultural standards.
Several figures had previously cast light on this issue. Zouhair Berro, the head of the Consumers’ Protection Association, said on Friday that the government should declare a state of emergency over the matter, criticizing official negligence in the agricultural sector and demanding that officials publicize information about the proper use of pesticides.
He said that illegal pesticides were being used in spraying fruits and vegetables. “Some of these chemicals are banned internationally but they are being smuggled to Lebanon and used by farmers,” Berro said adding that poisonous chemicals were found not only in Lebanese products but also in imported goods. “Strawberry samples coming from four Arab countries were tested and they contain pesticides residues of around 46 times more than the average approved internationally.”
Beirut MP Atef Majdalani, a physician, has also voiced his concern about poisoned fruits and vegetables, demanding that the food safety draft law be passed. The law was presented in 2003 but its ratification was suspended because of a fight over jurisdiction, Majdalani said last week. – The Daily Star
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