For heaven's sake

A lot of people are wondering whether or not speculations are true that Chancellor Ramon  Arcadio of UP Manila may be conspiring with former Health secretary Francisco Duque III and Dr. Allan Dionisio to hide the truth on aerial spraying.

This was after Arcadio refused to release the peer review results, said to be safely kept and locked away in a vault, conducted by UP Manila on the health and environmental assessment conducted at Sitio Camocaan in Hagonoy, Davao del Sur to determine the alleged adverse effects of pesticide aerial spraying on communities near banana plantations.

Basically, the peer review aims to determine whether or not the conclusions arrived at by the Department of Health-financed assessment, which at present is earning a lot of criticisms for being flawed and baseless, has basis.

Dionisio, lead investigator of the DOH study, basically implicated the Philippine banana industry and its practice of aerial spraying of pesticides as the cause of a number of diseases among the residents of Camocaan and the alleged delay in the development of children in that area.

Unfortunately, Dionisio to date still would not reveal the names of the persons who were allegedly diagnosed to be seriously ill of chloracne and lupus, which he claims are effects of aerial spraying. Municipal health officer Dr. Patricio Hernane swears Dionisio has not done so yet. 

Despite the inconclusiveness of the study as observed by no less than the World Health Organization (WHO), Duque used the conclusions to support his call for a ban on aerial spraying.

The peer review came about when agro-chemical firm CropLife Philippines executive director Simeon Cuyson wrote Arcadio last year to ask for a peer review of the 2006 DOH-funded study. This was after CropLife experts and those of the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) questioned both the way it was conducted and the conclusion drawn from it.

Arcadio told Cuyson that the university would only conduct a peer review if the health department would ask for it. The DOH finally agreed to the request for a peer review on the Dionisio study.

True, the peer review was conducted. Unfortunately, Arcadio has yet to respond to Cuyson’s several communications asking for the release of the results of the peer review.

Insiders say that Arcadio seems to be protecting Dionisio, who belongs to the same religious group as the former, from the expected backlash resulting from a negative peer review.

Dionisio gambled on a media frenzy to give his study the publicity he sought. By taking the alarmist stance, his advocacy prospered and was easily swallowed by NGOs and media. One TV outfit even allowed itself to be used by Dionisio, showing video of children without clothes and then airing sound bytes about the existence of childhood global developmental delay among the children of  Camocaan.

The offensive was quickly followed by Lynn Crisanta Panganiban, head of the UP-National Poison Management and Control Center and Carissa Dioquino, president of the  Philippine Society of Clinical and Occupational Toxicology, who admonished the Pilipino Banana Growers and Exporters Association (PBGEA) not to sacrifice people’s health for a rich harvest. They also mentioned the discovery of childhood global developmental delay in Camocaan when in fact, they just interviewed mothers and asked them to recall when their children sat and walked unsupported or drew circles with crayon.

It seems everybody wanted to take advantage of the free publicity. But the inescapable truth is that Dionisio’s assessment has been questioned by experts due to serious flaws in the methodology in data collection, analysis of results as well as in the formulation of the conclusions.

The peer review could have ended once and for all the debates about the soundness of the DOH-funded study and its conclusions. Unfortunately, as already mentioned, Arcadio is keeping the results of the review a big mystery.

A negative review would jeopardize Duque’s position on aerial spraying. He recommended to President Arroyo  that aerial spraying be banned even when the inter-agency committee on environmental health that he was heading recommended a status quo.

There are also persistent rumors that Duque has asked Arcadio to request one of the peer reviewers to “tone down” the result of the review. This inspite of the DOH and Arcadio’s insistence that they have not received a copy of it.

No less than the WHO, which conducted three similar reviews of the Dionisio assessment, has already concluded that the study was inconclusive. 

Observers insist that the irresponsible actions taken by the DOH and Dionisio in creating panic among the public without sound basis should not be allowed to continue. We can only surmise as to Duque’s agenda, but his perceived irresponsibility is endangering an industry that employs so many ruralfolk and earns huge amounts of foreign exchange for the country.

To ban aerial spraying of pesticides on banana plantations without basis whatsoever should not be allowed to happen.  It’s about time that Arcadio release the peer review, but not the toned down version for heaven’s sake.

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