August 23, 2019
Death in a bottle
Illegally imported pesticides can be fatal for farmers in Cambodia and across the region. And without proper training and protection, these toxins may continue to work their way into the food we eat every day
By Andrew Haffner

Shaking hands, lingering rashes, breath catching in your chest.

A sense of fatigue, sluggish reflexes and – if you’re really unlucky – cancers spreading through your lymph nodes, breasts and blood.

All of these are symptoms of chronic pesticide poisoning, a little-studied condition in Cambodia and much of Southeast Asia. It doesn’t just affect the farmers and their hired hands, the men and women who spray rice and vegetables alike with chemicals formulated to kill weeds, bugs and fungi. When misapplied to crops, as is often the case in the region, pesticides enter the food chain through contaminated water and market goods.

Despite official attempts to limit the use of harmful pesticides, Yang Saing Koma, a long-time agricultural leader in Cambodia, has seen little evidence that things are getting better. Nor has there been a concerted effort to study the wider impact of agricultural chemicals on consumers and ecosystems.
Full article: https://southeastasiaglobe.com/death-in-a-bottle/