Atherley calls for more focus on human health

Leader of The Opposition Bishop Joseph Atherley saidTuesday he is very concerned about the effect of pesticides on human health.

During the House of Assembly’s debate on the Pesticide Control (Amendment) Bill, Atherley shared the story of the death of his father and speculated it may have been linked to the use and storage of pesticides.

Candidly declaring that his father drank daily, the Opposition Leader said he was very active and vocal into his 90s. He said his father was diagnosed with an illness but some events leading up to the day of his death were of major concern to him.

The St Michael West MP told the Lower Chamber: “My father grew quiet in the early stages of those last few weeks. He was a very dark man but his complexion became darker and on his skin broke out all kind of welts all over his body.

“I am not here to suggest he died as a result of anything having to do with the use of chemicals and pesticides. But I do recall just about two or three days before he assumed his very quiet disposition a company sprayed about the house on the outside.

“It is still my view up on to this day, and based on much of what the doctor said to us, while he laid on his bed asleep he ingested much of the spray around the house. The result of that is what we saw on his skin and which caused him to take to his bed in the first place. He died shortly thereafter.”

A sombre Opposition Leader said he had hoped that the presentation on bill would have focused more on the impact of chemicals.

Atherley said: “My concern with the particular debate before us has more to do with the impact of the use, storage and disposal of chemical and pesticides in Barbados on human health and also on our environment and anything to do with the administrative adjustments which this bill purports to make.

“These adjustments may be important and maybe they will serve well to strengthen the institutional framework around the aims and objectives of the Ministry of Agriculture.”

He continued: “I would have wished I could have heard more emphasis placed on that then the other things I heard. I would have liked the Honourable Member to spend more time on the impact surrounding the use and disposal of chemicals and pesticides. How that impacts human health, how that impacts our environment.”

Atherley also raised concerns about the impact of pesticides on the water system.

He declared: “Our groundwater is absolutely critical to us. In recent years we have been having many complaints about the discolouration of the water even in the absence of temporary outages, even in the absence of heavy downpours. I wonder if the minister has any idea to the level of contamination of our water through the use of chemicals and pesticides.” (IMC)