A new report released yesterday has painted a disturbing picture of the woes bedevilling our food supply chain.
A programme in Kenya, Route to Food Africa Initiative, has reported that a third of all active ingredients in pesticides sold in Kenya are banned in Europe. The toxic ingredients are linked to cancer, mental illness and neurological ailments.
It found that 24 products sprayed on food crops are classified as carcinogenic, another 24 are mutagenic, causing damaging genetic mutations.
Others have been proven to negatively affect hormones, cause mental retardation in children, trigger miscarriages and eventually cause death.
The fact that licensed firms inject poison into the food chain is distressing. Worse, professionals hired by government to police the system are either sleeping on the job or are have been paid to turn a blind eye.