Betel nut pesticide spraying disturbs residents; weeds test positive for four pesticide residues, including the highly toxic carbofuran

The government has long ignored the crisis of pesticide use on betel nut, harming not only the ecology but also household health. In late September this year, residents in Nantou, unable to bear the stench and toxic fumes drifting from a betel nut plantation near their homes, immediately sampled weeds under the betel nut trees after spraying and provided them to Upstream and Downstream for testing. The results found four insecticides: the highly toxic pesticide carbofuran, butyl carbofuran, deltamethrin, and permethrin, all of which are broad-spectrum insecticides.

This Nantou resident said that whenever the betel nut flowering season comes, a spraying vehicle arrives at the plantation and uses a high-pressure spray gun to spray pesticide all over the trees, filling the community with stench, and the toxicity causes respiratory allergies and discomfort, leaving residents worried about damage to their health. After spraying, the area near the homes is covered with struggling and dead insects, including bees bought from nearby vegetable gardens for pollination; a casual sweep turns up a pile.

Several broad-spectrum insecticides sprayed together, causing indiscriminate insect deaths

Pesticide spraying during the betel nut flowering season has caused mass bee deaths for three consecutive years, with heavy losses for beekeepers; multiple pesticide residues have been detected in dead bees and pollen inside hives. Yet the authorities have never thoroughly investigated which betel nut plantations are responsible, who does the spraying, or what pesticides are being sprayed.

On August 14 this year, Upstream and Downstream sampled dead bees and pollen in Puli, Nantou, and sent them for testing; every sample tested positive for fipronil, which is highly toxic to bees and whose suspension concentrate has been classified as a banned pesticide. In addition to fipronil, multiple insecticides were also detected, showing that the bees were poisoned by a pesticide cocktail.

The weeds under the betel nut trees after spraying tested this time further directly prove that betel nut pesticide spraying involves mixing multiple insecticides and spraying them at the same time. The detected carbofuran and butyl carbofuran belong to the highly toxic carbamate class, are broad-spectrum insecticides, and are neurotoxins that inhibit acetylcholinesterase, with contact and stomach toxicity to all insects. They are extremely toxic to bees and are also systemic pesticides (they translocate within plants).

The other two insecticides, deltamethrin and permethrin, belong to the synthetic pyrethroid class and are also