Herbicide spraying Hongdou 04 "from food safety to environmental impact, scholars ring around: the Council of Agriculture needs to face up to the risk of herbicide use."

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By Li Huiyi, a reporter from upstream and downstream. Interview / upstream and downstream reporter Li Huiyi and Lin Yijun

Red bean is an important winter crop in Gaoping area. In recent years, the cultivated area is about 6,000 hectares, with an average yield of 12000 metric tons and an output value of 1 billion yuan. It is an important source for farmers in the south. The Council of Agriculture announced that the open herbicide herbicide will be used for the fallen leaves of red beans, that is, from January of each year to the Lunar New year, a large area of red bean fields will be sprinkled with herbicides.

Because the herbicide is water-soluble, and after the red bean harvest, the rice is ploughed and ready to be planted. Will this planting pattern have a great impact on the aquatic environment? Is it possible to affect the food safety and health of consumers?

Scholars call on the Council of Agriculture to provide a more detailed explanation on the risk of the use of herbicide. Zhang Mingchun, director of the Housewives' Union Environmental Protection Foundation in Taichung, said, "for consumers, it is hard to imagine why the policy of the Council of Agriculture has reversed. Slapping yourself in the mouth? " It is hoped that the Council of Agriculture can make the problem public and implement consumers' right to know.

The spraying machine is spraying the herbicide Jiaposai for the first-stage ratooning rice. After all the ratooning rice has dried up, it will enter the fallow period. After the fallow is over, it is the season for planting red beans. Rice-fallow-red bean-rice-fallow-red bean is the most common sight in the fields in the south (Photo / Li Huiyi)

Former director of the Prevention and Inspection Bureau: weeding is only one of the alternatives.

The government announced on May 20 this year (2020) that it would open up the use of herbicides for the defoliation of red beans, but this policy was experimented and the direction was established during the term of office of Feng Haidong, the former director of the Prevention and Inspection Bureau. Feng Haidong, a former director of the Prevention and Inspection Bureau, who retired in January this year, said that after paraquat left the field, there were many other herbicide alternatives on the market, which had little impact on agricultural production, but for red bean farmers who originally used paraquat as a defoliant, it will be more difficult for the government to promote alternatives.

He further explained that the alternative is not only sodium chlorate and nonanoic acid, but also the purification of varieties that have been being promoted by the Kaohsiung Agricultural improvement Farm. If this part of the variety is well done, it will be able to unify the harvest period and reduce farmers' dependence on herbicides. As for the herbicide part, it is only one of many. "it is already a brand on the market and can be bought at any time in the market. How to guide farmers to use it safely and effectively must be better than farmers using drugs indiscriminately!"

At present, the use method to be announced by the Prevention and Inspection Bureau is 3 litres per hectare and 200 times dilution times. The whole plant must reach more than 80% of the full ripening period of light brown drying, and the whole plant must be evenly sprayed once 7 days before harvest. Ploughing and rice transplanting operations will be carried out 14 days after application. In this regard, Feng Haidong further said that the residual value diluted 200x within 2ppm is safe for consumers and feasible for producers. "this is a common conclusion that both sides can get."

The red bean fields using paraquat are all yellow and dry, without a hint of green. (photo provided by "Kaohsiung Meinong Peasant Association")

The Prevention and Inspection Bureau of the water-soluble characteristics of solid herbicide pointed out that the misgivings of farmers and scholars have not decreased but increased.

The Bureau of Prevention and Inspection pointed out that in terms of environmental characteristics, herbicide is highly water soluble, is not easy to evaporate into the air, is easily absorbed by soil organic carbon, and is not easy to be leached, so the risk of entering groundwater and the threat to bioaccumulation are very low.

In addition, herbicide is also non-environmental sustainability in the soil. According to samples taken by the Bureau of Prevention and Inspection in eight rivers and sediments in southern Taiwan in 2016, the herbicide did not exceed the quantitative limit. As long as farmers according to the approved mode of use, normal use and pay attention to plant crops after 14 days, there will be no harm to the environment or affect the later crop growth.

However, Zeng Dezhi, a retired professor in the Department of Plant Pathology at Chung Hsing University, believes that in 2016, the Bureau of Prevention and Inspection did not expand the opening of herbicides as a defoliant for red beans, so there is no correlation between environmental impacts. Tseng Teh-chih said, "as far as I know, this should be the plan fixed by the Prevention and Inspection Bureau to the academic circles. what is the method of sampling?. Is it representative? All need to be discussed in detail. "

Secondly, Tseng Teh-chi believes that since the Prevention and Inspection Bureau also agrees that weeding has a high degree of water solubility, is it concerned about the relationship between red beans and sandy soil? If it is planted in the well-drained sandy soil, it is possible to fix the grass into the groundwater. As an important scholar in pesticide research in Taiwan, Tseng Teh-chih has repeatedly stressed that "herbicide is highly toxic to aquatic organisms."

Guo Huaren: with long-term intake of herbicide, the pregnancy rate of women may decrease.

Kuo Huaren, an honorary professor in the department of agronomy at National Taiwan University, also agreed with Zeng Teh-chi. he further said that in 2008, the Asia-Pacific Pesticide Action Network reported on the risk of fixing herbicides in various circles, saying that if the human body ingested fixed herbicides for a long time, it would pose a serious threat to health, the pregnancy rate of women may be reduced, pregnant women may be harmful to the fetus after ingestion, and there are survival risks for aquatic species, field natural enemies and insects.

Li Jinchuan, 77, is the first monitor of the production and marketing class of Wandan red beans in Pingtung. He told reporters, "I harvest red beans by falling leaves naturally. However, I would like to emphasize that paraquat is a contact herbicide that will not affect subsequent crops. Fixing and killing weeds is a systematic type, as long as the field is a little wet. It will definitely affect the growth of the grain, the crops may lose roots, and once the rice is absorbed, the heading period will be delayed."

Zeng Dezhi: herbicide is a medicine that was registered many years ago. does it keep pace with the times?

Citing relevant reports in Japan, Tseng Teh-chi pointed out that killing weeds will affect the brain development of mouse embryos, while pregnant women in Taiwan have the habit of drinking red bean water to reduce edema. If farmers harvest red beans with herbicide, will it affect pregnant women and their fetuses?.

Tseng Teh-chih reminded, "these herbicides were registered 20 or 30 years ago. Have we kept pace with the times in our understanding and management of these potions?" Herbicide was found to cause neurotoxicity or cardiovascular disease between 1996 and 2000. For example, the European Union believes that herbicide is a high-risk drug, especially for mammals. "

He stressed that he would never object to the use of weeding in weeding, but he was worried that there would be risks in using it on crops. "how can the government control and manage these problems?"

Prevention and Inspection Bureau: normal use in the field, little impact on soil microorganisms

In the face of doubts from all walks of life, Feng Haidong, former director of the Prevention and Inspection Bureau, said that the action mechanism of herbicides is to inhibit the conversion of ammonium in plant tissues. Terrestrial plants cannot remove ammonium and die as a result of poisoning. Because aquatic plants are soaked in water, ammonium will be released, and the tolerance is relatively high. It's not a big problem. As long as farmers use it in accordance with regulations, the water content of herbicide will not increase too high, unless someone pours it into the water or sprinkles it directly in the aquatic environment.

The Bureau of Prevention and Inspection issued a written statement on this: "the bioaccumulation risk of herbicides is low, it is moderately toxic to mammals, moderate to low toxic to birds and most aquatic organisms and bees, and low toxic to earthworms in the soil. The application of normal dosage in the field had no significant effect on soil respiration and nitrogen conversion, but had little effect on soil microorganisms. "

In response to the statement of the Prevention and Inspection Bureau, Guo Huaren said: "since the Prevention and Inspection Bureau has repeatedly stressed that it has been tested and evaluated, it should disclose the test data and evaluation methods to everyone."

There is no solid herbicide in conventional pesticide testing, who will guarantee consumer safety?

In addition, it is worth noting that among the 380 items of pesticide residue testing most commonly used by agricultural units or health units, there is no fixed herbicide item. If you want to confirm whether red beans have solid herbicide residues or exceed the standard, you must use another exclusive testing method, otherwise only in accordance with routine sampling testing, it is impossible to detect whether there are solid herbicide residues.

In the future, once the Council of Agriculture announces that herbicide is recommended as a defoliant for red beans, this will also be a key problem that the Prevention and Inspection Bureau will have to face.

The impact of killing weeds on the transformation of the red bean industry has brought unease to consumers, the disclosure of information and the great test of the Council of Agriculture.

In early 2013, the Wandan red bean industry experienced its first major crisis in nearly a decade, when the red bean price fell to 29 yuan per jin, and the Wandan Nong Association bought red beans for three days to prop up the price. After the crisis, Zhang Zhilie, director general of the Wandan Peasant Association, said that in addition to stabilizing the red bean trading market, there is also a need for a reputation for quality, and the recent incident of fixing and killing grass has made him worried that it will affect consumers' willingness to purchase.

Zhang Zhilie stressed, "No matter what the final result is, I strongly hope that the government will simultaneously do a good job in marking the origin and tracing the source of products, and establish an open and transparent market information, so that farmers who do not use herbicides can be separated from those who use herbicides." only in this way can domestic red beans have room for survival. "

Zhang Mingchun, director of the Housewives' Union Environmental Protection Foundation in Taichung, said that when consumers are happy for red bean farmers to produce high-quality red beans in a safe way, the Council of Agriculture wants to open up herbicides to fix weeds as a defoliant for red beans. "for consumers, it is hard to imagine why the policy of the Council of Agriculture reversed during the period when paraquat was banned. Slapping yourself in the mouth? " Zhang Mingchun hopes that the Council of Agriculture can make the problem public and implement consumers' right to know.

The red bean cake shop will specifically mark the source of red beans. (photography / Li Huiyi)

Red beans are the lives of farmers, while the lives of consumers are in the hands of producers.

On the first floor of the Wandan Peasant Association, there is a small "Happiness Shop" in the exhibition area of red bean products. In addition to small packages of dried beans of various specifications, there are also many processed products such as honey red beans, red bean water, tea bags, and so on. A Mr. Huang, who traveled from Kaohsiung to Wandan, specially went to the "Happiness Shop" of the peasant association to buy. He bought 12 packets of red beans at a time, and there was change for two thousand-yuan bills.

Mr. Huang said, "in the past, my friends gave me something to eat. It was really soft and sweet, which was very different from the red bean soup outside." So I came here specially this time. I want to buy more, eat it myself, and give it away. " Mr. Huang says that red beans are not rice, and you don't have to eat them. When you eat a snack, you can cook them for a long time. This is not expensive. The most important thing is to ensure your health. "I believe in peasant associations and farmers who cooperate with peasant associations."

Mr. Nong Xie of Hongdou in Pingtung City specifically mentioned, "my grandfather used the traditional method of pulling by hand, and my father used paraquat in his time. I began to use solid weeds at the beginning of this year. To be honest, if I had enough physical strength and brothers, I shouldn't have used herbicides! "

Mr. Huang lived in Kaohsiung City and went to Wandan to buy domestic red beans. (photography / Li Huiyi)

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