JOHANNESBURG - Unregistered pesticides entering South Africa through illicit channels are used in unsafe conditions, creating a risk of contamination within the food chain.
Toxicologist Dr Gerhard Verdoorn said these chemicals can have serious health consequences, particularly for children.
He said stronger controls are needed to prevent them from reaching communities.
"These chemicals are actually brought into the country as contraband from places like Zimbabwe and Mozambique. Pesticides that are not registered are sold to street vendors and they are used by street vendors. They are sold in bulk by syndicates to the people.
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“There's very often food contamination at the level where people do the blending of food or the manufacturing of food in dungeons and under garages and all sorts of unsavoury places.
Verdoorn said the chemicals then get into the foodstuffs, but they are basically contraband pesticides which not registered in the country and are in very poor condition.
“That's how they entered the food chain, and that is why the children got poisoned and all the symptoms were the 23 kids and all the other cases I worked on, where many authorities point out that it was actually mainly the terbufos pesticide and in some cases also the aldicarb pesticide.”