{"id":198752,"date":"2019-02-09T17:25:36","date_gmt":"2019-02-09T11:55:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=198752"},"modified":"2019-02-11T23:57:45","modified_gmt":"2019-02-11T18:27:45","slug":"unsafe-agrochemical-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/unsafe-agrochemical-use\/","title":{"rendered":"Unsafe Agrochemical Use"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Ranil Senanayake<\/a> \u2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr Ranil Senanayake<\/p><\/div>\n

Ah, the Canadian promoter of agrotoxins rises to the defense<\/strong><\/a> of the destruction wrought on our biodiversity through the process of \u2018energy intensive agriculture\u2019, that he seems to be well qualified in defending.<\/p>\n

He is also rather hypocritical, he states that<\/strong><\/a> \u2018How can Dr. RS say that earthworms and egrets are hardy against agro-toxins? He should give a quantitative criterion (e.g., the LP50 values\/weight) before he rushes to print. Only the Pope can make unsubstantiated ex-cathedra statements\u2019. He then goes on to state that; \u2018So, while the pesticide load is low, Sri Lanka’s environment, both rural and urban, is full of partially oxidized petroleum, kerosene and diesel residues\u2019. What evidence does he provide that the pesticide load in Sri Lanka is low? This is a totally unsubstantiated ex-cathedra statement.\u00a0<\/span>I guess he must see himself as some kind of Chemical Pope, making the unsubstituted statement that the pesticide load in Sri Lanka is low, without any quantitative criterion.<\/p>\n

I have been examining the biodiversity of this country for over thirty years. Below are some publications, that should be easy for someone in Canada to access. It will be handy to see what publications the Canadian critic has to his credit to justify his pontificating on the issue of biodiversity?<\/p>\n

1977 Habitat values and endemicity in the vanishing rain forest of Sri Lanka. With M. Soule and J. Senner, Nature 265:351-354.<\/p>\n

1981 Conservation of Freshwater Fishes in Sri Lanka. With P.B. Moyle, Biol. Conserv. 22:191-195.<\/p>\n

1983 The Ecological, Energetic, and Agronomic Systems of Ancient and Modern Sri Lanka. Lanka Guardian 5(7-8), also in Gordon K. Douglass (ed.) Agricultural Sustainability in a Changing World Order<\/p>\n

1993 Soil Ecology, Agriculture and the Greenhouse Effect.\u00a0 <\/span>Australian Jounnal of Soil and water Conservation 6 (1) : 27-30.<\/p>\n

1993\u00a0 <\/span>Global Biodiversity Assessment (GBA)\u00a0 <\/span>Co-Ordinator, (Multiple Use Values) Global Biodiversity Assessment. UNEP, Nairobi<\/p>\n

1994 The Need of Measurement and Evaluation of Biodiversity\u00a0<\/span>In New Perspectives in Biodiversity (eds) A.F. Krattinger, J.A.<\/p>\n

2004 From knowledge to action in the sustainable use and conservation of Biodiversity: Restoration and \u2018Analog Forestry\u2019. In Sustainable use and conservation of biological diversity-A challenge for society (eds) E, Bayreuth,W,Berendersohn, M, Butros. Fed Min Education and Research Bonn.: 87-90<\/p>\n

It is based on over thirty years of such field experience that I made the statement that, \u2018that earthworms and egrets are hardy against agro-toxins\u2019 What evidence does the Canadian Critic have to prove that earthworms and egrets are not hardy against agro-toxins ? My statement was the result of studying the environment of this nation for over thirty years. One wonders what the Canadian Critic has been doing during this time. Perhaps it is time to pull his head out from the cold soils of Canada and stick it into the tropical soils of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n

It looks as if the Canadian Critic is pushing his agenda based of selected references that seem to support his argument, he has nothing that relates to Sri Lanka, yet seeks to trivialize the field experience of Sri Lankans with his abstracted view of selected random publications.<\/p>\n

Until we the Sri Lankan public, are presented with the published work in terms of agricultural or general biodiversity, published by the promoters of agrotoxins, we should be very cautious of the agenda of those seeking to load our agricultural production with agrotoxins. His twisting of the words<\/strong><\/a> of the Rt.Hon. DS Senanayake who spoke to the prevailing economic system and its metrics, to suit his political agenda of criticising \u2018organic agriculture\u2019, demonstrates either crass ignorance of what was said or a crafty way to push his own tragic agenda. Either way, it is time that we asked these \u2018remote critics\u2019 to come to Sri Lanka, perform the research that supports or repudiates their viewpoint or at least publish a scientific paper from where ever they are, to justify the media campaign that they seem so keen to promote.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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