Poisonous claims

Opposition MPs take leading NDP members to task for turning Egypt into a dumping ground for carcinogenic pesticides and substandard food, reports Gamal Essam El-Din

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Former agriculture minister (1982-2004) and current Deputy Chairman of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) Youssef Wali, and current Finance Minister Youssef Boutros Ghali, faced heavy criticism in parliament on Tuesday when three opposition MPs demanded both Wali and Ghali -- a leading member of NDP's Secretariat-General and of the influential Policies Committee headed by Gamal Mubarak -- be referred for trial for "their shameful role in creating a mafia of importers of substandard food in Egypt". The request was rejected by a majority of members of parliament.

Allegations against Wali and Ghali were contained in three interpellations directed to the ministers of agriculture and health. The first, submitted by Mustafa Bakri, firebrand independent MP and the editor of the weekly Al-Osbou, accused Wali of dumping huge quantities of carcinogenic pesticides in Egypt. Bakri claimed that despite imposing a ban on the import of 39 pesticides in 1996, Wali backtracked and in 2000 allowed the import of 25 of the previously banned pesticides. "In revoking his earlier decision Wali was serving the interests of a handful of importers," said Bakri.

The Central Auditing Agency (CAA), said Bakri, had warned Wali as early as 1997 that his ban of the previous year was not being implemented by the Agriculture Ministry and yet no action was taken. Continued exposure to the pesticides, Bakri claimed, had placed thousands at risk of developing cancers, "including young children and the elderly".

Bakri, who pointed out that Wali's nephew had been arrested last January and referred to trial before an Alexandria criminal court on charges of importing 10,000 tonnes of banned pesticides and 480 tonnes of substandard fertilisers, also took the former minister to task for "normalising agriculture relations with Israel and importing apples and bananas from the Zionist state".

In 2003, he continued, a court had recommended the prosecutor-general to take legal action against Wali following claims that he had turned a blind eye to the import of carcinogenic agricultural pesticides by his former right-hand man, Youssef Abdel-Rahman. Pointing to a six per cent increase in the number of children suffering from cancer in recent years, Bakri further criticised the current minister of agriculture for not taking strong enough action against the importers of banned pesticides.

In the second interpellation Wafdist MP Mohamed Abdel-Alim Dawoud alleged that between 1996 and 2002, when Ghali had been minister of economy and foreign trade (1996-2002), Egypt had become a dumping ground for huge quantities of substandard fish, meat and wheat.

"Under Ghali Egypt became a refuse dump for food the Americans and Europeans had labelled unfit for their own consumers," said Dawoud. One of the importers who took advantage of the situation, claimed the MP, is Mohamed Faragallah, a business tycoon and member of the Shura Council. Dawoud asked that Ghali be referred to trial and that parliament's ethics committee look into his activities as minister of foreign trade.

"But of course," Dawoud added, "Ghali will not face trial because he enjoys the support of the NDP and its influential Policies Committee."

A third interpellation, submitted by Muslim Brotherhood MP Akram El-Shaer, claimed the import of genetically modified and substandard food was the direct cause of the dramatic rise in the number of Egyptians -- from 13,000 in 1996 to around 100,000 in 2006 -- diagnosed with cancer. He alleged that cronyism between NDP businessmen and Ghali had led to Egypt being flooded with substandard produce. El-Shaer concluded by urging the government to use the emergency laws to halt the trade in potentially dangerous food stuffs rather than hound the MB.

In their responses, the ministers of agriculture and health dismissed the information contained within the interpellations as false. Health Minister Hatem El-Gabali emphasised that his ministry applies strict supervision to the import of all foodstuffs. Ministry laboratories function in all governorates, conducting periodic spot checks of imported of food and chemical pesticides. "In 2005 the ministry's laboratories tested 434,506 specimens of local and imported food products," said El-Gabali. "Out of these 18,832, or just 2.4 per cent, were found to infringe health regulations." El-Gabali attributed the rise in incidents of cancer to smoking, air pollution and an adding population. Sherif Omar, NDP MP and chairman of the National Institute of Cancer, conceded that tougher restrictions should be imposed on the use of agricultural pesticides and chemicals.

"The Ministry of Agriculture is in need of developing new, environment-friendly techniques to tackle plant diseases," said Omar, who pointed out that incidents of cancer in Egypt, at 153 per 100,000, remained almost half that of Europe and North America.