MAPPS ACTIVITIES FROM JAN TO JUN 2011

SEMINAR IN CONJUNCTION WITH THE 34^th MAPPS ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

       A half-day seminar entitled “Truth about Illegal Pesticides” was held before the 34th MAPPS AGM on 9th May 2011 (Monday), 9:00 to 11:30 am, at Agriculture Hall of Faculty of Agriculture, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, Selangor. The Seminar was officiated by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rohani Ibrahim, the President of 33rd MAPPS Council. The half day seminar attracted 60 MAPPS members have attended the seminar, representing the government and private sectors, also participants from agro-industries, plantation sectors, government, NGOs, scientists, and academic communities.

Dr. Rohani Ibrahim, The President of MAPPS 34th Council 2011/2012, giving her opening speech.

      The papers presented were “Enforcement of Illegal Pesticide in Malaysia” by Mr. Subramaniam David (Deputy Director of Pesticide Board, Department of Agriculture) and “Illegal Pesticides: Compromises Food Safety and the Food Chain” by Dr. Tan Siang Hee (Executive Director, CropLife Asia). During the seminar, participants actively asked questions on pesticides usage and enforcement to which the speakers answered patiently with detailed data and guidelines. This seminar has achieved its objective to raise awareness about the impact of illegal pesticides use and the possible health and environmental hazards resulted from counterfeits products.

ABOVE: Crowd of participant concentrating on seminar. BELOW ON LEFT: Mr. Subramaniam David, the Deputy Director of Licensing and Enforcement Pesticide Control Division, Department of Agriculture, Malaysia.         BELOW ON RIGHT: Dr. Tan Siang Hee, Executive Director, CropLife Asia.

Enforcement of Illegal Pesticide in Malaysia

This topic was presented by Mr. Subramaniam David, the Deputy Director of Licensing and Enforcement Pesticide Control Division, Department of Agriculture. He has vast knowledge in the counterfeit and pesticide enforcement in the country. In his presentation, he mentioned illegal and counterfeit pesticide is harmful to human and environment. Usually, they are more destructive compared to the legal pesticide. To ensure the safety of user from illegal and counterfeit pesticide, the Enforcement and Licensing unit under the Department of Agriculture Malaysia, acted under the Pesticide Control Act 1974 is responsible in keeping these products from entering our country. Among the activities related to this unit are Inspection and Raiding of premises; Roadblocks at entry points; farm inspection; Monitoring of advertisement; Monitoring of HTP usage and monitoring of pesticide import permit for education and research purposes. From 2005 until 2010, the unit had conducted 4,486 raids, farm inspections and roadblocks which lead to confiscation activity that amount to RM245,790 in penalty. Types of products that confiscated are smuggled pesticides, pesticide without proper label, counterfeited pesticide and banned pesticide. To inform the users on the harmfulness of these illegal pesticides, the department has conducted awareness campaign such as giving talks and seminar; poster; training of farmers and extension agents. The department has formed Illegal Pesticide Combat Committee which includes NGOs, farmers association and CropLife in information sharing and networking to fight the ongoing problems in illegal and counterfeit pesticide in the country. 

Illegal Pesticides: Compromise Food Safety and the Food Chain

  Counterfeiting and the illegal trade of crop protection products are dangerous and growing problems for the plant science community. Plus, despite the legitimate pesticide industry being one of the most scientifically supervised and regulated sectors in the world, deregulation in world trade has inadvertently assisted in the sharp increase of counterfeit pesticides. These negative effects include:-

i)    Risk to human health, the environment and food security, where stewardship is absent. Even when 

stewardship is present, counterfeits damage crops, harm human health, etc.
ii)   Discouragement of honest entrepreneurs from investment in product development
iii)  Hampering of investment, employment, technology transfer and tax revenues.
iv)  Possibility that buyers of export crops will ban imports based on the use of counterfeit pesticides.
v)   Sales/reputation loss for legally abiding companies from damage by counterfeit products of their brand

      Counterfeiters of crop protection products are criminals who cause immeasurable harm to all levels of the food chain and damage to the environment and who create disastrous effects on the economies of exporting nations. Unscrupulous greed is the sole motivation of these organised crime networks whose forays into other industries such as pharmaceuticals or aircraft parts result in serious injury or death. The table below shows the economic significance of counterfeit-related crimes today.

 

Crime	US$ M	Crime	US$ M
31. Counterfeit Shoes	920	40. Counterfeit Cuban Cigars	100
32. Counterfeit Watches	655	41. Nuclear Smuggling	100
33. Counterfeit Pesticides	650	42. Counterfeit Purses	70
34. Book Piracy	600	43. Counterfeit Dollars	61
35. Counterfeit Sports Mem.	500	44. Organ Trafficking	50
36. Kidnap & Ransom	500	45. Counterfeit Lighters	42
37. Counterfeit Alcohol	300	46. Counterfeit Batteries	23
38. Diamond Smuggling	280	47. Human Tissue & Parts	6
39. Counterfeit Toys	131	48. Counterfeit Money Orders	3.7

Source: United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, 2009

For the plant science industry, counterfeiting  discourages future investment in R&D and new technologies that help assure global food security, socio-economic development and the alleviation of hunger and poverty. More immediately, the defective nature of counterfeit pesticides risk the health and safety of agricultural workers.

However, agri-stakeholders can take anti-counterfeiting actions. And, to proactively protect the world’s food supply and stop the dangers of fake crop protection products, CropLife International and its member companies have formed an Anti-counterfeiting Task Force led by an anti-counterieting expert with 20 years of investigative experience. Among other initiatives, it works with the international police to seize counterfeit products, arrest counterfeiters, raise government and regulatory agency awareness of the dangers of fake products, and helps with agency restructuring and staff training to deal with this global threat. Our organisation is also working to improve anti-counterfeiting packaging and labels to include security marks and avoid product tampering, introducing hot line numbers to report illegal activity – and through training, enabling purchasers to distinguish authentic products from counterfeits .

Advocacy is effective in the campaign against counterfeiting and our global partners include the World Customs Organisation, the US Department of Homeland Security; Interpol, Europol; China’s Institute for the Control of Agrochemicals, Ministry of Agriculture (ICAMA); The Business Action to Stop Counterfeiting and Piracy (BASCAP); international shipping companies; and other international trade associations. Vigilance is our byword and – “Know Your Customer” and “Know Your Supplier” -- our tenets. We need your support to protect the future of sustainable food production as we strive to achieve food security.

 

 

 

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Alumni Dinner 2011

The dinner was held on 21st May 2011 at PKKSSAAS Hall, Universiti Putra Malaysia. It was a great event for bridging connection between alumni members. The event managed to gather all ex-UPM graduate students, government official and private sector. The event was organized by Alumni Center, UPM.

From Left: Mr.Tommy Phuah Boon Giap, Dr. Yusof Husain, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kamaruzaman Sijam, Prof. Dr. Dzholkifli Omar, Dr. Lau Wei Hong, Dato' Tuan Syed Abdul Rahman, Mr. Lau Boon Seng, Mr. Muhd Hafidz, and Dr. Norida Mazlan.

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MAPPS Council of Elders (CoE)Reunion Reception 2011       MAPPS Council of Elders (CoE), a high tea reunion meeting was organized for all 26 MAPPS ex-presidents on 27th January 2011 (Thursday) at L’Apprentice Cafe, Universiti Putra Malaysia. Four out of 26 MAPPS ex-president was attended the meeting, Dr. Heong Kong Luen (11th MAPPS Council), Prof. Dr. Ahmad Said Sajap (20th MAPPS Council), Dato’ Tuan Syed Abd. Rahman Syed Abd. Rashid (24th MAPPS Council) and Mr. Zakaria Sidek (26th MAPPS Council).  Assoc. Prof. Dr. Rohani Ibrahim,  the President of 33rd MAPPS Council. Prof. Dr. Ahmad Said Sajap (20th MAPPS Council)   Dato’ Tuan Syed Abd. Rahman Syed Abd. Rashid  (24th MAPPS Council) Mr. Zakaria Sidek  (26th MAPPS Council) Dr. Heong Kong Luen (11th MAPPS Council) Assoc. Prof. Dr. Abdul Shukor Juraimi (Member) Topics discussed were as follows: What is your expectation of MAPPS in attaining the objectives of her establishment, especially in the past years? Generally, have we been seen or heard enough about MAPPS activities in Malaysia? What are the major differences in plant protection today compared to that of past? What are the major challenges in this field? What would you like to see happening in this field? In what ways do you see MAPPS is providing support or bringing impact to improve the interest in this field? How can you give your support to MAPPS?