PESTICIDES IN VEGETABLES AND ORGANIC FARMING

Mr Simon S C Tay asked the Minister for National Development what are the safe levels of pesticides in vegetables and whether, in setting guidelines for farms and suppliers of vegetables, he will also consider allowing and promoting the alternative of organic farming without artificial and potentially harmful pesticides.

Mr Mah Bow Tan: Sir, the Primary Production Department (PPD) closely monitors both imported as well as locally produced vegetables to ensure that they are safe for consumption. In deciding what levels of pesticide residues are safe, PPD adopts the Maximum Residue Limits (MRLs) recommended by the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which is internationally recognised as the authority on food safety matters. Vegetables found to contain pesticide residues in excess of these MRLs are destroyed.

As for organic farming, PPD has recently tendered out land which could be used for organic vegetable farming. PPD will continue to support and render technical assistance to farms that are interested in organic farming, hydroponics as well as conventional soil cultivation of vegetables.

I would like to inform the House that our local farms are able to produce both pesticide-safe as well as pesticide-free vegetables for consumption. This is because PPD encourages our local farms to adopt good agricultural practices such as regulating the use of pesticides and growing the vegetables under protective netting to reduce pest infestations in vegetables. Contrary to perception, vegetables which are grown with the use of pesticides are safe if the farmer adheres to sound agricultural practices.

Assoc. Prof. Low Seow Chay (Chua Chu Kang): Mr Speaker, Sir, the Malaysian authority claims that the PPD bans the use of seven types of pesticides which are actually allowed in Malaysia. They claim that this is a form of non-tariff barrier. Is there any truth in the allegation?

Mr Mah Bow Tan: All I can say is that there is no basis whatsoever for such an allegation. PPD's move to impose strict controls and conditions is to protect our consumers from exposure to excessive pesticide levels in vegetables that are imported from Malaysia. Our local vegetable production accounts for something like 6% of total consumption in Singapore. So that is why we have to import vegetables from almost 40 countries. In the last count, it was 39 countries. So really it is not in our interest and neither is it our policy to erect non-tariff barriers for vegetables or for any other product for that matter.

Mr Simon Tay: Sir, the reports from the media are that the Government's practice is to allow a certain percentage above the limit set. I think a figure of 20% has been suggested. If this is so, why is this so? Why do we allow a variance of 20% above the limit we set?

Mr Speaker: Order. Can I remind the Member that the question should not be based on reports in the media? Could you ask your question again?

Mr Simon Tay: Sir, if I may simplify then. Is there a variance allowed on the limits that we set? The second supplementary question is: is the Minister convinced that our standards are consistent with the Sanitary and Phytosanitary Agreement under the WTO?

Mr Mah Bow Tan: Sir, in so far as the limits are concerned, as I explained earlier, there are certain limits which are set by internationally recognised bodies such as the Codex Alimentarius Commission. They specify different limits for different types of pesticides. For example, there were reports that we do not allow certain pesticides to be used in Singapore whereas they are allowed in other countries. In those cases, what happened was that these pesticides have zero MRLs, perhaps because the Commission feels that these are much more dangerous than the other pesticides. So whichever MRL is specified by the international commission, that is the level we adopt. The next step is to do sampling or random tests on consignments that come in. All the consignments that come in, that are imported into Singapore from whichever country (Malaysia, Indonesia, Australia, and so on), are subject to quality control tests. And the rule of thumb by the PPD is that not more than 5% of the samples that are tested should exceed these limits. So there is a margin of error built in. Obviously, it is not possible to completely eliminate all the contaminated batches, so there is a sampling error allowed.

The finding so far has been that the batches from Malaysia have exceeded this 5% guideline. In fact, it has gone as high as 30%, 40% for some species of vegetables. This is the reason why with effect from 1st July, the PPD has implemented a much more stringent checking and testing procedure to try and focus on some of these more, should I say, "dangerous" vegetables. There are about 22 of them, out of 100 vegetables that are imported into Singapore that are subject now to these new regulations. In fact, the result shows that as a result of these very stringent checks, we have been seeing much cleaner batches of vegetables coming in over the last two weeks or so. It is a little bit too early to tell. But I think we should persevere with these more stringent checks.

As to the other question about whether they violate any WTO regulations, the answer obviously is no. These are checks which are necessary in order to protect the health and safety of our consumers, and I think every country practises this to a greater or lesser degree.