No arsenic in locally produced rice - ITI

By L.S. Ananda WEDAARACHCHI

Agriculture Minister Mahinda Yapa Abeywardana, Agriculture Ministry Secretary K.E. Karunatileka, Batalagoda Rice Research and Development Institute Director Dr. Nimal Dissanayaka and Registrar of Pesticides Dr. Anura Wijesekera were interviewed recently on the controversial issue of arsenic being present in the locally produced rice varieties.

Q: It has been alleged that the locally produced rice varieties contain arsenic due to the use of pesticide. Is there any truth in the allegation?

A: Minister: I would categorically deny that the locally produced rice varieties contain arsenic as alleged. Rice Research and Development Institute and Registrar of Pesticides have conducted several scientific tests in this regard and confirmed that arsenic is not present in rice varieties.

Q: The arsenic issue was discussed at the recent food security committee meeting at the Temple Trees chaired by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, what were the decisions arrived at the meeting?

A: Rice Production has reached the targets set by the agriculture ministry. Despite the Islandwide floods last January the country did not import rice. On the contrary Sri Lanka exports several nutritious rice varieties to Middle East and Europe at present. As we are self sufficient in rice a campaign held to popularise rice consumption has produced encouraging results. However, there is speculation in certain quarters that the arsenic alleged to have been present in rice, is an attempt on the part of certain elements to sabotage rice production with the ulterior motive of promoting the consumption of wheat flour.

Dr. Aruna Wijesekera

Q: Is there a campaign launched by the agriculture ministry to popularise compost fertiliser and traditional pesticides.

A: The Agriculture Ministry and its departments and the institutions are working round the clock to develop the agriculture sector. Services of a number of foreign experts too are utilised. The compost fertilizer development project at Pannala is geared to popularise compost fertilizer so that the import of chemical fertilizer could be cut down by 25% within a space of two years. Agriculture ministry secretary K.E. Karunatileka said that the research findings have so far not been sent by the researchers despite repeated requests.

Q: According to the Newspaper reports a team of researchers have attributed the heavy use of pesticide as one of the causes to the kidney disease in North Central Province. Your comments?

Secretary: The development of the Agriculture sector to achieve self sufficiency in food is the principal task of the Agriculture ministry - Research and training are immensely useful in this exercise. However the adhoc research and findings on vital matters such as consumption of rice may not perhaps be in the national interest. I have called upon the researchers repeatedly to send their research findings.

Q: Batalagoda Rice Research and Development Institute and the Registrar of pesticide could confirm the presence of arsenic in rice. Have you obtained their findings in this regard.

Dr. Nimal Dissanayake

A: The two Institutions had sent samples of rice and pesticides to Industrial and Technological Institute, ITI (Former CISIR) for investigation. ITI findings confirmed that the locally produced rice varieties were free from arsenic and also out of 25 pesticide brands 23 brands contained no arsenic we have already banned the marketing and distribution of two pesticide brands.

Director, Rice Research and Development Institute, Batalagoda, Dr. Nimal Dissanayaka said that immediately after he came to know about the "arsenic issue" he had sent 60 samples of local rice varieties and 25 samples of pesticides to ITI - the most advanced research Institute in Sri Lanka for investigation with approval from the Secretary Ministry of Agriculture.

Q: What was the procedure you applied to collect samples.

K.E. Karunatileka

Director: Agriculture Ministry and the Agriculture Department have a well organised administrative network covering the whole country sixty rice samples sent to ITI for testing were collected from the North Central, Southern and Eastern and North Western Provinces. We have collected all brands of pesticides including the local makes. We have followed standard methods when collecting and handing over the samples. We did a perfect job. The outcome is that all the locally made rice varieties are free from arsenic. Dr. Aruna Wijesekera - Registrar of Pesticides, Department of Agriculture said that the research team has claimed the presence of arsenic in rice produced in the country.

Q: Did there research teams hold discussions with you on the controversial issue of arsenic in rice varieties?

Registrar of Pesticides: No, In fact I contacted them no sooner I received the news. Arsenic is a most abandon element in the world. In some countries such as Bangladesh there is a very high content of arsenic. In Sri Lanka the situation is different. The findings of the research team is not acceptable. Since they claim that the arsenic content is very high.

Q: Can you explain the pesticides available in Sri Lanka.

A: There are three types of Pesticides Agricultural, Domestic use and fumigation, in Sri Lanka. Then there are chemical based imported pesticides and those locally manufactured according to traditional methods. Out of 1003 pesticide brands only 25 chemical brands are used in agriculture. We have sent samples of those brands to Industrial and Technological Institute for the arsenic test. The outcome of the ITI test that there was no arsenic presence in the 23 chemical pesticides while only two proved to have contained arsenic less than 300 parts per a billion. However as a remedial measure the distribution and marketing of those 2 brands have been banned with immediate effect.