Protesters from 686 civil society groups donned blackface and ate veggies at Government House while demanding bans on two farm chemicals and better regulation of a third. The protesters say that paraquat and chlorpyrifos have been shown to harm the environment and people's health. The Hazardous Substance Committee last month voted to allow the continued use of the three chemical pesticides under tightened regulations. The first demand from the petition was to ban paraquat and chlorpyrifos by December 2019, a deadline advised by the Ministry of Public Health. The Thailand Pesticide Alert Network also revealed that studies have that around 50% of fruit and vegetables sold nationwide were found to contain traces of paraquat.

Source: Bangkok Post June 05, 2018 21:56 UTC