Moroccan Auditors Warn of Health Risks from Widespread Pesticide Use

In Morocco, more and more, farmers are faced with the often unavoidable option of using many chemical products. These are, describes Al Massae, "pesticides and fertilizers" whose harmful effects on the health of Moroccan consumers are known. Indeed, these "chemical inputs" pose many health risks for consumers, warns the media, which notes that "these chemicals must be handled with basic precautions".

Seizing the opportunity offered by this session of the public finance control committee in the House of Representatives devoted to the examination of the latest report of the Court of Auditors on the National Office of Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA), Driss Djetou did not hide his concern. The President of the Court of Auditors denounced the lack of control over the retail trade in these agricultural pesticides, which are likely to cause disturbances in the human body. Moreover, he noted the lack of control over products containing genetically modified organisms (GMOs), reports the same source.

Even more scandalously, the Court noted the current lack of "legal framework for GMOs" in Morocco, and this "despite the international debate on their potential health risks", specifies the newspaper.

The 2018 report of the Court of Auditors, published last September, exposed many irregularities of the National Office of Sanitary Safety of Food Products (ONSSA) in its duties. This, therefore, exposes its "inability to fulfill its missions of protecting consumer health and that of animals and plants", observes the media.