A professor in the Department of Veterinary Pharmacology and Toxicology, University of Ilorin, Suleiman Ambali, has raised the alarm that world will soon witness fertility crisis as recent researches show a decline in men’s sperm count by 50 per cent since 1940 worldwide.
Delivering the 192nd inaugural lecture of the university in Ilorin on Thursday, titled, Preventing pesticides from poisoning away our health and future-the oxidative approach, Ambali said that exposure to pesticides is one of the most important occupational risks, especially among farmers globally.
He, therefore, stressed the need for an increase in the level of awareness and advocacy on the dangers associated with indiscriminate use and disposition of pesticides.
“Many environmentalists believe that the human species is approaching a fertility crisis based on evidence of disturbing trends in male reproductive health. Scientists studying the impact of man-made chemicals on human health claim human males will be infertile by the middle of the next century if the present industrial trends are maintained.
The culprits are chemicals, including pesticides, which mimic hormones, particularly, the female sex hormones, oestrogen. Humans are not the only unique target affected by those agents, as many birds and animals in the wild have displayed this problem.
“The world was astonished when four Danish scientists led by Carlsen published a research study that suggested that the sperm counts of men have declined by about 50 per cent since 1940 worldwide. The researchers analyzed the result of sperm counts between 1938 and 1991. Since then, several other studies have confirmed the decline”, he said.
Professor Ambali, who said that the world would soon witness fertility crisis if stakeholders did not act, called on them to take a stand against what he called looming danger inimical to human existence, stressing that “silence would not be golden in this situation”.
He also called on governmental and non-governmental organizations to mobilize on the task, saying that general populace should be enlightened on the danger of indoor use of pesticides, especially pregnant mothers and children who participate in farming activities to be well protected from getting exposed to pesticides as proper and regular maintenance of spraying equipment to avoid splashing of pesticide should be practised.
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“Measures aimed at encouraging safe usage of pesticides by farmers, pesticide applicators and other individuals whose occupations are related to pesticides should be put in place.
“Policies aimed at reducing the use of pesticides in agriculture should be put in place. Farmers should be encouraged to use an integrated approach in controlling pests and where necessary develop alternative cropping systems less dependent on pesticides, revert to traditional hand hoeing, hand weeding, use of pest-resistant seeds and organic farming systems devoid of agrochemical application
“There is a need to strengthen the regulatory framework and processes for the continuous re-evaluation of all registered pesticides in line with currently available information, especially on all aspects of safety to people and the environment. Many
pesticides are placed on the market with insufficient testing other than the traditional acute and chronic toxicity studies. Many of the tests related to specific end-points are absent from regulatory directives.
“National Agency for Food Drug and Control (NAFDAC) and National Environmental Standards and Regulations Enforcement Agency (NESREA) should take the lead in this aspect by working with research experts in our higher institutions of learning.
I recommend that the 5-year validity permit granted by NAFDAC for specific brands of pesticides that can be used in the country should be downgraded to three years as new information concerning safety level of the chemicals comes out frequently.
“There is a need to also tighten the procedures for registration of new pesticides, with safety considerations put at the front burner. Pesticides that are poorly labelled or labelled with foreign languages not intelligible to the populace should be banned from being imported into the country”
“There is a need for the development of the national strategic framework that will ensure the enforcement and constant revision of legislation and regulatory control on pesticide manufacture, importation, sales, usage and residues facture.
“I am advocating that a National Agency for the Monitoring and control of residues from hazardous chemicals be established. This is to be excised from NAFDAC whose role in combating the menace of fake drugs and pharmacovigilance is already overwhelming.
“Strengthening of research facilities existing in higher institutions of learning in order to develop local safety limits such as acceptable daily intake of pesticides, like data being branded were those from Western countries where climate, diet, culture, economic and social status differ from what is obtainable in our environment. In addition, these institutions can be encouraged to develop cheap but effective substitutes to pesticides that accurately target pest, more environmentally friendly and that does not leach into the soil.
lt is a well-known fact that newer pesticide formulations in the market are relatively safer, less hazardous and more environmentally friendly compared to the traditional ones being patronized by farmers, but they are very expensive. Therefore, the government must continuously subsidise the cost of procuring these newer pesticide formulations to encourage their use by farmers. In doing that, the government may consider raising tax payable for the imported traditional and more hazardous pesticides to discourage their use.
“There should be provision for more storage facilities by the government at all levels, in order to ensure that chemicals and methods used for storage of agricultural produce are in line with the global best practice.
“The government should as a matter of urgency address economic inequalities that have made peasant farmers poorer. The lack of adherence to specified decay period of pesticides used for storage of agricultural produce by arable farmers and non-adherence to withdrawal periods before turning by-products the market borders more on economic pressure than even awareness of the hazards.”
“Enlightenment of our healthcare providers and other personnel in the health management team on the need to consider pesticide poisoning as a differential in the diagnosis of some diseases, especially in those individuals that are exposed to pesticides by virtue of their occupation. This will help streamline the management and prognostic options available
“Border control: The country’s borders must be strengthened to control the importation of dangerous and hazardous pesticides, some of which have been banned in the developed countries of the world.
“The government should ban the open sales of pesticides and ensures those that are involved in their sales and procurement are knowledgeable enough to understand the health and environmental implications of unwholesome pesticides handling and application.
“Since oxidative stress is central to pesticide poisoning, it is strongly advocated that antioxidants be incorporated into its therapeutic and prophylactic management strategies in man and animals. Indeed, it is recommended that individuals who are likely to be involved with pesticides application take a prophylactic dose of antioxidants to mitigate the expected health outcomes following accidental exposure”, he said.
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