Carcinogenic pesticides: Mubarak's pernicious legacy for Egypt

Former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak [TG Post/Facebook]

February 29, 2020

The regime of ousted president, Hosni Mubarak, committed many crimes against the Egyptian people throughout his thirty-year rule. One of his biggest atrocities was the import of carcinogenic pesticides, which resulted in more than ten million Egyptians suffering with cancer.

Some have, again, raised the issue of carcinogenic pesticides following Mubarak’s death a few days ago, along with highlighting other cases and incidents during his era, to remind us of his crimes against the people, after the current regime organised a military funeral for him in the presence of current president, Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, and symbolic figures of the previous regime.

Social media users launched the hashtag “#We will not forget Mubarak’s corruption” to stress their rejection of praise for the ousted president, against whom the Egyptian revolution of 2011 erupted following years of repression, injustice and corruption.

Israeli pesticides

The case started in 2003 with the accusation of Yousef Wali, the minister of agriculture at the time, and 21 of his advisers and assistants, of importing carcinogenic agricultural pesticides from Tel Aviv.

Although there is a law prohibiting the import or circulation of any of the 38 pesticides that have been classified by the US Environmental Protection Agency as possibly carcinogenic, Wali lifted the ban on these pesticides, later proven in the case.

From 1999 to 2004, five internationally prohibited pesticides were smuggled into the Egyptian market, in addition to 59 other variations used under specific conditions and specifications, with the knowledge of the Ministry of Agriculture.

These Israeli carcinogenic pesticides caused the spread of many deadly diseases among Egyptians, including cancer, sterility, kidney and heart diseases. These deadly pesticides also destroyed the fertile agricultural lands, rendering them infertile.

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Wali was not penalised

The case continued until 2010, and Wali declined to appear before court, after assistant minister, Youssef Abdel Rahman, submitted documents proving Wali’s responsibility for entering carcinogenic pesticides to Egypt.

An infographic titled “The leader who left a dictatorship legacy: Hosni Mubarak
” created in Ankara, Turkey on February 26, 2020. Egypt’s President for 30 years, Hosni Mubarak ruled the country with an iron fist. ( Graphic: Mahmut Resul Karaca, Ahmet Tamkoc – Anadolu Agency )

At the time, the charges were proven against those involved. Rahman, Wali’s assistant, was sentenced to ten years in prison, and Randa Al-Shami, an agricultural stock market advisor, was sentenced to seven years in prison, while the rest of those accused were sentenced to one to five years in prison.

As for Wali, he used his parliamentary immunity at the time, and did not spend a day in prison, as the State Security Prosecution failed to implement the judge’s decision to take legal measures against him.

Uncontrolled pesticides

In 2004, the former minister of agriculture, Ahmad Al-Leithi, who succeeded Wali, decided to relaunch the pesticide monitoring committee that his predecessor had cancelled, so as to start the pesticide work again. The committee announced the banning of several pesticides, and the ministry confirmed its readiness to return the value of the pesticides to those who returned them to the ministry, which unfortunately did not receive anything.

According to experts and observers, Egypt is severely suffering as a result of the spread of various internationally banned pesticides, as well as the authorised misuse, which led to a number of serious diseases, specifically cancer and kidney failure.

In previous statements, the representative of the Central Laboratory for Agricultural Climate, Mohamed Fahim, confirmed that the statistics of the Central Lab of Residue Analysis of Pesticides and Heavy Metals in Food of the Ministry of Agriculture revealed that Egypt reached the highest dangerous area in the use of pesticides globally.

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Mubarak’s legacy

Wali supported Mubarak in destroying the health of the Egyptians, as agriculture was damaged by Israeli hormone-filled seeds treated with genetic engineering, and introduced carcinogenic pesticides that spread fatal diseases among Egyptians.

The Egyptian revolution of 2011 was not arbitrary, but rather a popular eruption of a volcano of anger as a result of corruption and devastating policies that made Egyptians decide to topple Mubarak.

Although more than nine years have passed since the ousting of Mubarak, Egyptians still remember the crimes of the deposed president’s regime, and do not accept the campaign of vindication and praise that was launched to give glory to Mubarak’s actions after his death, as his crimes cannot be erased and forgotten.