FAO.org

At the 38th Session of the FAO Conference, which took place in Rome from the 15th – 22nd June 2013, a revised International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management was approved by the Organization’s main governing body. The revised code pays specific attention to public health concerns and the effects of pesticides on vulnerable groups – particularly the health and wellbeing of children – encouraging government and the pesticide industry to take special actions to reduce children’s vulnerability to exposure.

The Code, which was initially adopted by the FAO Conference in 1985 and updated once before in 2002, provides an overarching global framework on pesticide management for all public and private entities associated with the distribution and use of pesticides. It is a voluntary code, whose implementation depends on three major players: governments, the pesticide industry and civil society organizations.

Overall, the revised Code pays much greater attention to essential environmental concerns (i.e. water and soil contamination) as well as the long-term health effects on pregnant and nursing women, children and other vulnerable groups in society. For instance, as recommended by the International Partnership for Cooperation on Child Labour in Agriculture, it now recommends that the use of pesticides by children in a work situation be included in National Hazardous Work Lists for children under ILO Convention No. 182 on the Worst Forms of Child Labour in countries which have ratified it.

The revised Code also advises governments to:

• Introduce national legislation to prevent the use of pesticides by and sale of pesticides to children;
• Make every reasonable effort to ensure that containers are not attractive to or easily opened by children particularly for domestic use products;
• Regulate the advertising of pesticides to ensure that ads do not contain any visual representation of potentially dangerous practices, including the use of pesticides in the vicinity of children.

This is an important step forward, since the majority of child labour is in agriculture and children may be exposed to pesticides as workers. Children may also face risks while playing in or close to pesticide-treated areas; when pesticides drift into residences, schools and other areas located near fields; or simply because they are unable to read warning labels on pesticides. Once exposed, children are especially susceptible to the potential toxic effects of pesticides, because they are weak in resistance to toxins.

In an effort to eliminate hazardous work of children in agriculture, FAO and ILO have been working together to improve regulation and awareness of pesticides and chemicals. In 2011, together with the ILO and the WHO, FAO organized a side event on'Vulnerable groups and pesticide exposure' to bring these issues higher up on the agenda during the Fifth Conference of the Parties to the Rotterdam Convention (COP 5) – where hazardous chemicals, including pesticides were being discussed. FAO is also committed to developing national and local capacity to address child labour in agriculture, for instance by training agricultural extension workers and integrating occupational health and safety and awareness on children’s exposure to pesticides in networks of Farmer Field Schools and rural radio programmes.