Tayebwa slams EU on hazardous products exports

The Deputy Speaker of Parliament, Mr Thomas Tayebwa, has urged developing countries to jointly reject what he described as unfair trade and deceitful practices by the European Union (EU) against other countries.

Speaking at the Organisation of African, Caribbean, and Pacific (OACP) parliamentary conference in Brussels, Belgium, yesterday, Mr Tayebwa condemned the EU member states’ practice of exporting EU-banned pesticides and other products to developing countries, and asked OACP member states to strongly stand as a team against this double-standard arrangement, which he said makes African countries vulnerable.

Call for unity

“We aren’t able to take on this giant (EU) independently. Even the EU didn’t do it alone, they came as a group and we should also act as a group and reject this unfairness,” Mr Tayebwa said in a statement released by his office.

He added: “We are telling the EU to be transparent, we are all human beings. We all have red blood. The milk that kills a European, can kill an African. The pesticides that can cause cancer to Europeans, can cause cancer to the Caribbeans.  Why are you allowing dangerous products to be manufactured in your union and be exported to other countries? Stop it.”

Mr Tayebwa said: “It’s unfair for anyone to allow a cancer-causing product to be manufactured as long as it’s for export to other countries.”

Way forward

He said OACP would pass a regulation tasking the European Parliament to revise its own mechanisms on the matter, especially the continuing practice of exporting domestically -banned chemicals from the EU to poor African countries.

Under EU rules, any company that wants to export banned chemicals needs to produce an “export notification” detailing the reasons the product is banned, its intended uses, and the amount the company intends to ship. National and EU regulators check these documents and issue them to authorities in the destination countries for review.

When contacted for a comment on the matter, the EU press attache in Uganda, Mr Emmanuel Gyezeho, said they will respond to us today after getting all the details on the issue.

Ms Cecilia Ogwal, the Dokolo District Woman MP, seconded the Deputy Speaker’s concern as she accused the EU of double standards.

“Their law says you can continue making dangerous chemicals as long as you don’t sell them in Europe. You can make the chemicals also purposely for export.  We feel this is bad and an indirect way of eliminating Africa,” Ms Ogwal said.