Santo Domingo.- The pesticide metomil, which the World Health Organization (WHO) declared extremely toxic and used without limits in the country, killed three children who ingested it last month in the community Amiama Gomez, in southern Azua  province.

The illegal handling of some agro-toxics in some crops for export is the focus of a report which points to the lack of a rigorous monitoring and technical process, because receptor countries demand them free of pesticide residues to allow their entry.

For local consumption however the requirements aren’t the same.

The laws, decrees, resolutions and adherence to international protocols which ban or restrict the use of certain substances that harm human, animal or vegetable health have been insufficient, as agro-chemical suppliers openly sell those products without restriction.

Metomil’s use was restricted in December, 2009, together with benomil, the chlor-pyrites, carofburan, carbendazim, diafentiuron, diazinon, dicol, dimetoato, endosulfan, fenamidona, imidacloprid, oxamil, prenos, propiconazol, tiabendazol and tiacloprid.

Most of those substances, already banned in other countries, are potentially carcinogenic, according to the European Union’s International Agency for Cancer Research, and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

They are also suspected of endocrine alterations by affecting the hormonal system and can lead to an increase in congenital defects, the sexual abnormalities, reproductive failure and can increase the risk of cancer in reproductive organs.

Those products may be applied only in some crops and under Agriculture Ministry technical supervision, according to Resolution 50-2009, which also restricts the sale and use of 17 agrochemicals and bans 10 others.

However it is common to see fumigators or “backpackers” dust crops without supervision and required protection such as special clothing, gloves and masks, as in their labels warn. In the zone of the Low Yuna river basin people say that the cases of poisoning of the “backpackers” who use tanks with hand pumps on their backs is commonplace.