CAIRO – THE January 25 revolution has not yet touched the agricultural sector. This is the conclusion that one could reach on reading the investigative feature recently published by the independent Arabic newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm. Although the feature has not uncovered any new findings pertaining to the use in Egypt of carcinogenic pesticides made in Israel, it has revealed the widespread use of such harmful pesticides in the cultivation of different kinds of fruits and vegetables in many governorates of the country. Mohamed el-Khouli of Al-Masry Al-Youm succeeded in detecting one of these carcinogenic pesticides known as Oraset 20 per cent, which causes a hormonal imbalance in the body, as well as the carcinogenic substance Acetochlor. This is globally banned by the World Health Organisation, the European Union, the American Environment Protection Agency and the International Agency of Cancer Research. Starting his tour in newly cultivated lands in el-Salehia in Sharqia governorate, the reporter discovered that most of them are being rented by farmers from Sinai, who are mainly planting tomatoes together with other fruit and vegetables, such as cucumbers, eggplants, peppers, watermelons, strawberries and cantaloupe melons. The paper wrote that most, if not all the farmers, depend on seeds and pesticides being smuggled in from Israel via the underground tunnels of Gaza, according to Salem, one of the farmers it interviewed. “The farmer who won't use this hormonal pesticide is subjecting his cultivation to a big loss. It is enough to know that by utilising these pesticides, whether in their liquid or powder form, the crop yield produced on one feddan would be three times that of the feddan cultivated with the same plant without these pesticides,” stated Salem. “We are selling this pesticide, which is widely known as ‘the magic substance' [to cultivators of] different reclaimed lands. These include North Sinai, the Cairo-Alex Desert Highway, Ismailia, el-Nubaria, New Salehia, Suez, el-Salam Canal, Banger el-Sukar region in Kafr el-Sheikh governorate as well as Alexandria and Fayoum,” said Ammar one of the farmers, who secretly trading in this banned pesticide. Commenting on these scandalous findings, Dr Mohamed Fathi Salem, adviser of Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Egypt said that these Israeli pesticides are scientifically categorised as growth hormones, which are sprayed on the plant causing fast and random division in the volume of the fruit. This pesticide causes hyperthophy and hyperplasia, increasing the weight of the fruit”. “This pesticide can cause cancer,” affirmed Dr Salem, a professor of plant diseases and bio agriculture at Menufia University's Institute of Genetic Engineering and Technology. “This pesticide includes a heavy carcinogenic substance called Acetochlor that taints the plant and causes a change in its taste.” Dr Salem emphasised that such kinds of pesticides are not registered at the Ministry of Agriculture and are being smuggled to the country and widely used by cultivators, in spite of their known harmful effects on health. He elaborated: “The problem is that these farmers blindly utilise such pesticides without reading their instructions, being written on the package in Hebrew. For example, an instruction states that this product is for use in winter only, while farmers are spraying it throughout the year, exacerbating its toxic effect.” The Acetochlor substance included in the Israeli pesticides has been classified amongst the first group of highly toxic substances causing cancer in a report on the most carcinogenic substances banned by the EU, WHO and the American Agency for Environment Protection. There is also a warning that this substance can harm human reproductive health. Although Dr Salem has previously affirmed that the Israeli pesticide is not registered at the Ministry of Agriculture, there are indications that this environmental and health catastrophe is well realised by the senior officials at the Ministry of Agriculture. Some of these officials have proved to have been involved in the normalisation of relation between Israel and the Egyptian agriculture sector under the supervision of a former Minister of Agriculture Youssef Wali, who is currently under investigation in cases of alleged corruption and importing carcinogenic pesticides from Israel. According to a featured published by the semi-official Arabic newspaper Al-Ahram following the January 25 revolution, the Ministry of Agriculture was infiltrated by Israel to effect a new agriculture policy that destroyed Egyptian agriculture and public health as a result. Dozens of American research centres are present in Egypt, enabling the creation of a wide co-operation network between some officials, businesspeople and even researchers in the agriculture field and Israel. There are also some ten private companies working in co-operation with Israel in the field of cultivation in Egypt. What happened to the agricultural sector during the last three decades has been catastrophic to Egyptian soil, watercourses, crops and public health together with the set back in cultivation of the strategic crops of wheat and cotton. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that success of January 25 revolution is not confined to merely toppling the Mubarak regime but lies in the eradication of all features of corruption and in the restoration of the agricultural sector.
