The "60 Minutes" piece I helped research last year has aired at last. "Poisoning Takes Toll On Africa's Lions" tells the story of how farmers and Maasai pastoralists are using the insecticide Furadan to kill lions and other animals that prey on their livestock and crops.
It was a curious piece to work on. The most revealing part was how the Kenyan government investigated claims of lion poisonings with Furadan in the Maasai Mara. The laboratory of the Government Chemist reported traces of Furadan in lion samples sent to it. Displeaed with those results, the Pest Control Products Board, which regulates the licensing and sale of pesticides, launched a campaign to discredit the Government Chemist and then decided to test its own samples. Those samples were not from animals, but from soil which happened to have been collected long after the poisonings occurred, and in an area recently hit by heavy rains. And... voila! No Furadan.
Now I see that FMC, the maker of Furadan, which had initially argued it could not be held responsible for the misuse of its products, is no longer supplying Furadan to Kenya and will buy back what stocks remain.
Good news all around. The only depressing part is that Kenya is a tiny market for FMC. The move looks proactive, but it will cost FMC almost nothing.
they will not supply to kenya but people will still buy them from neighboring countries and sell the poison in kenya. the only solution is for the kenya government to ban its use
Posted by: joe | April 02, 2009 at 03:32 PM