Sri Lankan legislator claims cyanide found in pesticides

Date:08-17-2011

A Sri Lankan government legislator said Thursday that researchers have found cyanide mixed in pesticides imported in Sri Lanka for farming.

Athureliya Rathana Thero, a Buddhist monk legislator in the government told reporters that the research was carried out at a Malaysian laboratory.

Sri Lankan university academic Channa Jayasumana alongside with Thero said cyanide was found in pesticides imported from Germany, Switzerland and Europe.

"These had high content of arsenic, mercury and cyanide and can have damaging side effects such as sensory impairment, disturbed sensations, lack of coordination, kidney dysfunction, damage to the skin and infertility," Jayasumana told reporters.

Thero, requesting the Sri Lankan government to ban the import of the pesticides, said the issue will be raised in parliament soon with the support of the opposition.

A group comprising Sri Lankan chemists, pharmacologists, botanists, medical doctors and forensic specialists said that last month the arsenic poisoning was very likely linked to a mystery kidney disease which had killed 20,000 farmers in Sri Lanka in the past 20 years.