Friday, March 27, 2009
Furadan Is A Poison That Kills Lions
The manufacturer of a pesticide blamed by conservationists for the poisoning deaths of lions and other animals in Kenya says it is taking "aggressive action" to prevent misuse of the product, halting sales to the country and trying to buy back supplies.
Carbofuran, marketed as Furadan by Philadelphia-based FMC Corp., is used to control insects and other pests on crops such as corn, rice and sorghum. The European Union has banned use of the chemical, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving to bar its use on all food crops.
But conservationists and researchers say that the product is widely available and inexpensive in East Africa and that herdsmen trying to protect their animals from lions and hyenas use it to poison the predators. Scientist and conservationist Richard Leakey has called for a ban due to the problem.
Laurence Frank, a University of California-Berkeley researcher, told the university's alumni magazine California for an article earlier this year that it was "unspeakably tragic" that lions, "the signature carnivore for the continent, have vanished throughout most of the country."
Courtesy of the Associated Press and Philly.com
Carbofuran, marketed as Furadan by Philadelphia-based FMC Corp., is used to control insects and other pests on crops such as corn, rice and sorghum. The European Union has banned use of the chemical, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is moving to bar its use on all food crops.
But conservationists and researchers say that the product is widely available and inexpensive in East Africa and that herdsmen trying to protect their animals from lions and hyenas use it to poison the predators. Scientist and conservationist Richard Leakey has called for a ban due to the problem.
Laurence Frank, a University of California-Berkeley researcher, told the university's alumni magazine California for an article earlier this year that it was "unspeakably tragic" that lions, "the signature carnivore for the continent, have vanished throughout most of the country."
Courtesy of the Associated Press and Philly.com
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