الفهرس 
The problem of adulterated and illegal pesticides at the international and local levelOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Successful control of agricultural pests and pathogens is based on
effective pesticides of acceptable quality that do not cause undesirable
adverse effects when used at recommended rates. In fact, the use of nonstandard
products (fake, counterfeit pesticides) can have serious adverse
effects on human health and the environment, and the use of these
products may result in unsatisfactory or sufficient results towards the
target pests
As well as the accumulation of residues in the environment and
food crops, such products often contain impurities or other chemicals that
can increase their toxicity to mammals and other types of non-target
organisms. Several reports and estimates, particularly for the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World
Health Organization (WHO), indicate that as of the first decade of the
current century, such pesticides have increased in the markets of
developing countries, accounting for about 30%, and that they did not
meet internationally accepted quality standards. With regard to the
Egyptian market, it faces such a problem on a large scale according to the
estimates of the responsible authorities.
For this purpose, both FAO and WHO developed and published
standard specifications for technical substances and formulations, with the
aim of being used as international reference standards on which to judge
commercial products of pesticides traded on the market. Of course, the
responsible authorities in the country encourage factories and plants
working in the field of pesticides production and formulations to work
and take the necessary measures to control the quality of their products,
and take such specifications for general purposes to control pesticides
traded in the markets. According to what is published regarding the local
laws and regulations of the Pesticides Committee (the responsible body in
the country).Taking the previous into consideration, the present study is
concerned with focusing on the different aspects of the subject through:
identify the procedures for monitoring the quality of pesticide products
traded in Egyptian markets, evaluate the quality of the preparations to the
specifications declared on the label, determination of physico - chemical
properties of commercial packaging samples of pesticide products traded
on the market and quality control and measures to enforce the standards
for preparations and packaging of pesticides produced in a factory - case
study of Starchem plant for the manufacture of chemicals and pesticides
(6th of October City).
The study was carried out using the following materials and methods:
1- A questionnaire was prepared for the companies and factories working
in the field of pesticide formulations. The questionnaire was prepared
in Arabic, and included different aspects of: Definition of the facility
(5 questions) - Quality management procedures (5 questions) -
Technical aspects and quality standards (25 questions) - Waste
management and occupational safety (12 questions). The
questionnaires were distributed and collected after being completed by
questionnaired plants (11 companies engaged in the import and
distribution of pesticides, 5 different factories. Data were extracted,
compiled, presented, and analyzed statistically using standard
deviation.
2- The accompanying data label for 90 packages collected for various
pesticide formulations from the markets of pesticide shops in several
regions in Sharkia governorate (Agronil), Cairo (Mahallat Taht
Alrrubue) were conformed based on the design of the label
accompanying the pesticide packaging by the Pesticides Committee.
3. The physico-chemical properties of 30 samples of pesticide products
traded in the markets (EC and WP formulations) which collected from
pesticide shops in four governorates (Cairo, Giza, Qaliubia and
Sharqia) were analyzed according to the CIPAC 2003 standard methods, Tests included determination of pH value, Persistent Foam,
Emulsion stability and Wettability.
4. A case study of the quality control procedures in the Starchem Plant for
the Manufacture of Chemicals was conducted through field
observation and factory responses on the above mentioned
questionnaire. Also, The physico-chemical properties of a number of
samples produced in the plant have been analyzed according to the
method previously mentioned for EC and WP. The SC formulation
were subjected to Suspensibility, Spontaniety and Pourability tests.
The most important obtained results could be summarized as follows:
I- Information of the inspected factories and their quality control
procedures:
1- Most of the investigated companies (80%) are importing and
distributing pesticide products, and one company mentioned that it is
working also in pesticide formulations.
2- More than 40% were established between 1996 and 2016 (17% of
which were established from 1996-2006 and 25% from 2006-2016,
while 33% of factories and companies were established more than
twenty years ago).
3 - Insecticides represent the first category (100%) in terms of production
and marketing of the studied establishments, followed by fungicides
(80-90%), herbicides (80-82%), nematicides (60-73%) and other
pesticides (20-64%).
4. Most of the pesticides produced are for agricultural use, followed by
public health pesticides
5- Most pesticides companies and factories (91%) apply the Egyptian
Standards for the Pesticides Committee, while the environmental
standards are applied by only 27% of the companies, in contrast to the
factories that responded that they apply both 100% 6- The proportion of pesticide companies that apply quality control
standards to their products after operation and before leaving the
factory for the markets is only 4 - 36%, while 100% of the factories
mentioned to follow this procedure
7- Companies which have special laboratory for internal control of the
quality of products is only 9%, while the investigated factories have
all decided (100%) to have their own factories.
8- The percentage of companies that obtained the ISO 9001 quality
certificate (9%) is the same as the percentage of companies that have
obtained the ISO 14001 environmental certificate, while all the
factories have reported to have both.
9- The factories that are interested only in estimating the percentage of
the active ingredient in the product is about 41%. For the physicochemical
properties and characteristics of the containers, the factories
that are interested in their estimation are only 33.3%.
10- About 80% of the factories committed the international standards
(WHO) and enforce them.
11- Most of the investigated companies (about 91%) do not have practices
to deal with obsolete pesticides.
II. The status and specifications of the label of the marketable packages:
1- The labels of 100% of the tested packages contain the commercial
name, the common name, the chemical composition and the
percentage of the active ingredient, while 1% of the packages do not
contain the pictogram and the color of the packaging indicating hazard
categories.
2- About 4% of the investigated packages do not contain information
about use, and about 7% do not contain safety precautions and first
aid.3. About 12% of labels do not contain anti-dote, and 6% of the labels
does not contain information deal with the compound hazard.
4. About 17% of the labels did not mention the pre-harvest period (PHI).
5- About 13% of the labels did not contain the local registration number,
and about 18% did not mention the operating number.
III: Physico-chemical properties of commercial products traded on
the market:
1- The results of the test of seven emulsified chlorpyrifos were shown to
differ in the percentage of the foam layer. The pyriban-A product from
El-Helb Pesticides and Chemicals Company (New Damietta Free
Zone) and Pestiban from the National Agrochemical Company
(Agrochem) are lower in the percentage of the presence of foams,
followed by a Tafaban product produced by El-Help Pesticides and
then by Pyrifos -El-Nasr, produced by NSC, then chlorpyriphos and
Chlorzan produced by and KZ , respectively.
2. The results showed that all the above seven formulations were in
compliance with international standards in terms of emulsifying
stability after half an hour, while non-conformance with the
international standards appeared in six formulations, as a result of
exceeding the cream layer formed after two hours of maximum limits.
3. The seven formulations of chlorpyriphos failed to test emulsion
stability after 24.5 hours, as well as in the free oil layer formed at the
same time.
4- The results of the test of emulsification stability and the formation of
the foam layer for four different preparations (lambda cyhalothrin,
chlorpyrifos methyl, and two different preparations of malathion)
showed that they all conform to the international standards in the level
of the foam layer, as well as the complete emulsification after half an
hour. After half an hour was also identical, but the difference and
mismatch appeared in three of formulations after two hours of emulsification, where the proportion of the layer of creams exceeded
the limits set internationally for each type of formulation, and the layer
of free oil was not conform to specifications either after 2 hours or
24.5 hours.
5 - The results of the test of two different formulations of abamectin and
two different preparations of the emamectin benzoate produced by the
National Company for Agrochemicals and Investment, El-Helb
pesticides and chemicals, respectively, the samples conform to
international standards in terms of level of foam and the layer of cream
and oil free layer formed after half an hour, two hours, and 24.5 hours.
6. When comparing the efficiency of emulsification among other
emulsifying formulations including Sumithion, Diazinox, sylian, and
teleton, it was found that the four formulations met the specifications
in terms of level of foam layer, but both of Sumthion and Diazinox
were failed in stability test, where it formed a layer of cream exceeded
the standard maximum after two hours. This problem did not appear in
the sylian and teleton, where they were in accordance with standard
specifications.
7. The results of eleven WP formulations (8 insecticides and fungicides
chemically synthesized + 3 formulations for biopesticides prepared
from Bacillus thingness bacteria) showed that six of the tested
chemical pesticides successfully passed the suspensibility test as their
attachment ratios were higher than the minimum attachment limits
specified in the specifications. The remaining five pesticides (2
chemicals + 3 biopesticides) were not identical and their attachment
ratios were below international standards.
VI- Quality Control Procedures at Starchem Chemical Manufacturing
Plant (Case study):
Starchem Chemical Manufacturing Company produces pesticides
alongside some other agrochemicals. It is one of the companies that declare its commitment to applying local and international standards and
specifications for its products through quality management system,
occupational safety and health and environmental management system.
Tests of the physico-chemical properties of the current products
were done in the internal laboratory, which equipped with the capabilities
and necessary supplies to analyze such properties for random samples of
the products in all its operation. Quality tests were conducted for some of
these products following the standard methods of the World Health
Organization, the results obtained indicate the following:
1- Results of emulsion stability test of two EC formulations (Sicon 10%
for lamba cyhalothrin, Tak 48% clorpyrifos) showed that both had
given a level of foam below the permissible limits and that the cream
layer was not formed after half an hour but started to appear after two
hours and was below the international maximum. Therefore, samples
have been proven in accordance with the standard specifications.
2. The suspensibility, wettability and foam formation tests were carried
out for two products (i.e .Starcopper 50% copper oxycholor, Chipco
50% iprodione) and the wettability was 8 sec and 25 sec for Starcoopr
and Chipco respectively while the foam level was 5 and 5.5 cm for
Starcopper and Chipco , respectively, indicating that the samples
conform to international standards.
3. The results showed that the samples were identical in terms of
suspensibility ratios, with 80.35% and 87.46% for Starcopper and
Chipco, respectively.
4. The results of the suspensibility, spontaniety and pourability tests of a
SC product (Coach 20% fibronil) showed that the pesticide complies
with international standards in terms of suspensibility ratio of 93.7%,
as well as, the properties of spontaniety and the pourability of the
product.