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{
"id": 1498792,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498792/?format=api",
"text_counter": 386,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
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{
"id": 1498793,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498793/?format=api",
"text_counter": 387,
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"speaker": null,
"content": "STATUS OF IMPLEMENTATION OF RECOMMENDATIONS ON WITHDRAWAL OF HARMFUL CHEMICAL PESTICIDES"
},
{
"id": 1498794,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498794/?format=api",
"text_counter": 388,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Deputy Speaker",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Thank you, Hon. Deputy Speaker. My question is directed to the Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development. I will take just one minute to provide some background, as this is a follow-up to an action by the previous Cabinet Secretary. Cabinet Secretary, on the 31st of August 2023, I wrote to the then Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture relating to the use of carcinogenic pesticides in Kenya. At that time, I had already brought a Motion in Parliament on September 2019. That was in the 12th Parliament. Again in 2022, in the 13th Parliament, I raised the same issue. Again, in the year 2023, I sought a Motion for the removal from office of the members of the Pest Control Products Board. The reason is that 76 percent of the total volume of pesticides that are used in Kenya have one or more active ingredients that are categorized as highly hazardous pesticides. This information is with the Ministry of Agriculture. It was confirmed that some of the pesticides, in fact, over 40 percent of the pesticides that come into the country, are pesticides that have been banned in the United States and other parts of North America and also in the entire Continent of Europe. However, those same pesticides are manufactured in those countries, but for export only to countries such as Kenya. Therefore, we want to ask: (a) What is the status of implementing the recommendations of the National Assembly with regard to Public Petition No. 70 of 2019? (b) What steps have been taken by the Ministry to withdraw those harmful chemical pesticides in the Kenyan market? (c) What has the Cabinet Secretary done to respond to my letter of 31st August 2023, which I also had an opportunity to bring it to your attention during the time you were being vetted for appointment as the Cabinet Secretary? (d) What steps have been taken to remove the pesticide formerly called Roundup, which currently is being sold under a different trade name but with the same ingredients, from the Kenyan market? This is, despite the fact that, it is public knowledge, even known to the Pest Products Control Board, that in fact farmers in the United States were paid US$230 million for developing cancer as a result of using those pesticides. Thank you"
},
{
"id": 1498795,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498795/?format=api",
"text_counter": 389,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Hon. Speaker",
"speaker_title": "",
"speaker": null,
"content": "Cabinet Secretary."
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{
"id": 1498796,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498796/?format=api",
"text_counter": 390,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr Andrew Mwihia Karanja",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development",
"speaker": null,
"content": " Thank you, Hon. Speaker. First of all, we have been seized of this issue for a long time, and it has been discussed many times in various committees and on 26th August, a comprehensive Report was tabled in the Committee on Implementation. Regarding the question on the status of the recommendations of the National Assembly’s Departmental Committee on Health, several issues were raised there, as Hon. Gladys Boss is raising. I will go through them in order to indicate what the Ministry has done on each particular issue. The Public Petition No. 70 of 2019 had seven recommendations that had been addressed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock Development. One of the issues was the formulation of regulations on distribution and retailing of pesticides. Our response is that the Ministry has already gazetted the Pest Control Products Inspection and Certification Regulations of 2024 on 18th June 2024. The regulation sets the requirements for certification of distributors and retailing of pest control products. Those regulations are the ones which were"
},
{
"id": 1498797,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498797/?format=api",
"text_counter": 391,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr Andrew Mwihia Karanja",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
},
{
"id": 1498798,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498798/?format=api",
"text_counter": 392,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr Andrew Mwihia Karanja",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development",
"speaker": null,
"content": "recommended by that Committee, and we have already done the gazettement. So that action has been taken. The other one was the analysis of the product in the Kenyan market. We were requested to analyse the pesticide products in the Kenyan market. The response is that 31 active ingredients and associated end-use products have been reviewed and we have provided in Annex 4 of our report details of all pesticides which have been analysed, and where all the active ingredients were analysed as requested by the Committee. The development of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs) Strategy is also ongoing in partnership with the East African Community. This is not a one-nation affair. We are liaising with our East African Community member States because some of those pesticides are used across the East African Community. In the last three years, 79 pest control products have also been voluntarily withdrawn by litigants for various reasons. The third issue was on funding. It was noted that in order for the Pest Control Products Board (PCPB) to do a good job, it had to have adequate funding. The PCPB had been under- funded until the current financial year when funding was enhanced, and we welcome that. The low funding caused the delays in reviewing the active ingredients in the petition and review of the regulations in the PCPB. However, the development and review of regulations require public participation and also conduct of regulatory impact assessments which requires a lot of resources, and you will agree with me on that. The funding needs to be enhanced so that the Board can do its work. From this year, we have seen increased funding for PCPB and we are hoping that it will do a better job in terms of making sure that it does what it was requested to do. The other issue which was raised is the annual publication of pest control products that have been withdrawn or banned. I can report that PCPB normally publishes a list of withdrawals and a list of withdrawn active ingredients and decisions. It also publishes on its website a list of banned products, a list of registered products and a list of restricted products. We have provided in Annex 5 of our Report some of the products which have been withdrawn or restricted and the ones which have been banned. Actually, Annex 5 is on banned products in Kenya. So, Hon. Members, there are 45 of them which have been banned in Kenya, including herbicides, insecticides and other products, as listed there. I do not have to go through the whole list of banned products since it is provided as requested. We were requested to amend to the Pest Control Act. I want to report that the Cabinet Memo on the Pest Control Products Bill is in the National Treasury awaiting concurrence; after which it will be submitted to the Cabinet for approval."
},
{
"id": 1498799,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498799/?format=api",
"text_counter": 393,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr Andrew Mwihia Karanja",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The regulations that are anchored on the Pest Control Products Board (PCPB) Act No. 346 of 1982 were recently gazetted. We proceeded to prepare the regulations before the Bill comes into place. This is our response on what we have done. The other issue was access to data. The PCPB has been accessing technical information on the data package that is supporting the safety of human health and environment. That data includes chemistry, toxicology, effects on the environment and beneficial organisms, efficacy and residue studies, fate and behaviour in the environment. This has been further elaborated in the new registration and regulations that were gazetted on 6th August 2024 under the Kenya Gazette Supplement No.155 and Legal Notice No.130. The proposal for the proposed PCPB Bill provides for evaluation of pesticides for safety of human health and environmental prior to registration. Action has been taken with the regulations in place."
},
{
"id": 1498800,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498800/?format=api",
"text_counter": 394,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr Andrew Mwihia Karanja",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development",
"speaker": null,
"content": "We were requested to do pest control products labelling. Advertising and packaging regulations were gazetted in June 2024. They require that all pest control products must have adequate information. One of the issues that was raised in the cases in United States (US) and other jurisdictions was that the pesticides were not well labelled so that the users can know whether there are any hazards, risks and the dangers they pose. We gazetted the regulations to"
},
{
"id": 1498801,
"url": "http://info.mzalendo.com/api/v0.1/hansard/entries/1498801/?format=api",
"text_counter": 395,
"type": "speech",
"speaker_name": "Dr Andrew Mwihia Karanja",
"speaker_title": "The Cabinet Secretary for Agriculture and Livestock Development",
"speaker": null,
"content": "The electronic version of the Official Hansard Report is for information purposesonly. A certified version of this Report can be obtained from the Hansard Editor."
}
]
}