The ban of three toxic farm chemicals should be implemented in June, according to Deputy Minister and Public Health Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Thursday.
Thailand’s National Hazardous Substances Committee (NHSC) recommended the ban on the production, import, export or possession of three farm chemicals including paraquat, glyphosate and chlorpyrifos last October.
Following pressure from farmers and distributors, a special committee chaired by Industry Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit said that they have unanimously voted in November that the ban will be postponed until June 2020.
Farmers said that the ban would increase their harvesting costs.
The Ministry of Health voted against the initial postponement of the ban and Minister Suriya’s claim that it was a unanimous vote in November was untrue.
The special committee voted on Thursday 17-6 to begin the ban on the three chemicals by June. The Ministry of Agriculture will now be tasked with finding alternatives.
The US also disapproves of the ban because it would disrupt Thailand’s import of its agricultural products soybeans, wheat, corn, coffee, apples and grapes as they use glyphosate.
The imports of these products amount to around 51 billion baht per year.
Since the NHSC deemed these chemicals are dangerous to people’s health, it should be banned, said Anutin. He added in October that the US is only worried about trade, not the health of Thai consumers. He reinforced those comments on Thursday.
Anutin also urged for more transparency from Suriya in order to avoid confusion. He insists that the Health Ministry does not agree with the postponement.
The issue will continue to hamper US-Thai relations as the US has already suspended its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) worth US$1.3 billion or 42 billion baht for Thailand last weekend.
