The environmental partner of Chiquita Brands International Inc. issued pesticide standards Tuesday that loosen restrictions to conform to Chiquita's existing pesticide practices.
In a two-page statement issued in response to questions by the Enquirer, the New York-based Rainforest Alliance stated that its rules prohibit banana plantations from using pesticides that are banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the European Union. These rules are less restrictive than previously published alliance standards.
The statement comes a week after the Enquirer published a special section May 3 on Chiquita's business practices. The newspaper reported that Chiquita subsidiary farms used several pesticides in violation of stated alliance policy.
In documents provided earlier to the Enquirer, the alliance stated in its "General Production Standards" for its Better Banana program that certified farms can "only use products that are registered for use in the United States, Canada and Europe."
To be banned by the EPA or the European Union means a chemical cannot be used anywhere in the world on produce shipped to the United States or Europe, a restriction that must be adhered to by food importers according to U.S. and European law.
But the alliance's previously issued "General Production Standards" held producers to a higher standard. If a chemical is not registered for use in the United States, it cannot be used on farms in the United States but may be used on produce being shipped from overseas. The list of banned chemicals is far shorter than the list of chemicals not registered by the EPA or authorized by the European Union.
The Enquirer reported May 3 that several pesticides on Chiquita's own list of approved chemicals were not registered for use in the United States, Canada or one or more nations of the European Union, in contradiction to stated Rainforest Alliance policy.
Those pesticides included bitertanol, sold as Baycor, a pesticide that Chiquita and its subsidiaries use in aerial spraying. Both the company that manufactures the product as well as the EPA stated that bitertanol is not, and never has been, registered for use in the United States on bananas or any other crop.
Under the standards released Tuesday, pesticides used by Chiquita subsidiaries that were in violation of the previous rules are now permitted.
Since 1993, the Rainforest Alliance and Chiquita have worked on the ECO-O.K. - Better Banana program, an environmental certification designed to assure protection for workers and the environment on Costa Rican farms of Chiquita's subsidiaries, Compania Bananera Atlantica Ltda. (COBAL) and the Chiriqui Land Co. The program, originally called "ECO-O.K." but later changed to "Better Banana," has since expanded to Chiquita subsidiary farms in Panama and Colombia. Of 81 Latin American farms involved in the program, 74 are Chiquita subsidiaries. The farms pay for the alliance's certification process.
Eric Holst, New York coordinator of the alliance's Better Banana program, would not comment on the statement issued Tuesday, except to say that it had been approved by Chiquita.
Joseph Hagin, Chiquita's vice president for corporate affairs, did not return calls Tuesday.
The alliance statement made no reference to an Enquirer finding that Chiquita also conducts aerial spraying of banana farms while the workers are in the fields - another violation of the alliance's environmental policy.
In a story published May 3, the Enquirer reported that workers are exposed to pesticides through aerial spraying on Chiquita subsidiary farms in Costa Rica - and all these farms are certified under the Better Banana program. The newspaper quoted workers on Chiquita subsidiary farms.
For that story, Mr. Holst told the Enquirer, "We require that workers have protection from the application of chemicals. That clearly is a violation."
The Enquirer also published statements from tape recordings made from internal Chiquita voice-mail messages in which company officials discussed that Chiquita subsidiaries are conducting aerial spraying while workers are in the fields. Those tapes were provided to the Enquirer by a high-level source in Chiquita's Cincinnati headquarters.
In the United States, aerial spraying while workers are in the fields is banned by the EPA. EPA spokeswoman Denise Kearns said the EPA will, on rare occasions, allow an individual dressed in full safety gear to "flag" for a crop-dusting airplane, but all other workers are removed.
Asked why the EPA had such regulations, Ms. Kearns said "because of the acute reactions to pesticide applications of this kind and also over time, you have all kinds of chronic effects that creep up for the workers, so we simply don't permit it," she said.
(Copyright 1998)
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