‘Tens of thousands of cancer cases in Sudan’s El Gezira state’: farmers

The El Gezira and El Managil Farmers’ Association announced on Monday that close to 93,000 people in the area have fallen ill with kidney problems and cancer, owing to the use of corrupt pesticides. In the period between 2008 and 2010, 92,955 people developed allergies, kidney diseases and failure, as well as various forms of cancer, due to outdated pesticides used in the agricultural schemes of El Gezira and El Managil, south of Sudan’s capital. Hoda Mohamed Osman, director of the Sudanese non-governmental Food and Nutrition Organisation, told Radio Dabanga that Sudan has become the largest market for obsolete pesticides. She attributed the problem to the absence of control by the authorities, and the lack of interest in agricultural issues by the government. She added that most of the food currently available in Sudan is contaminated. In September, the Sudanese administration for Plant Protection stated that more than 1,500 tons of outdated pesticides entered Sudan this year.  File photo: Highly hazardous and persistent heptachlor found buried in Hasahesa, El Gezira state, June 2007 (Unep.ch) Related: ‘Corrupt pesticides entered Sudan’: Plant Administration (19 September 2014)