A top-level task force, organized by Malacañang, rolled up its sleeves to make an independent study on aerial spraying, including the good and bad effects on public health and the environment.

The task force, headed by Presidential Adviser on Mindanao Affairs Jesus Dureza, will be composed of officials of key government agencies and experts and other stakeholders.

The task’s force recommendations will help President Arroyo decide whether or not aerial spraying should be banned.

This was a welcome move after banana growers in Davao have appealed to the President not to ban aerial spraying.

They said the ban on aerial spraying will adversely affect the $720-million banana industry in the Philippines.

It will mean closure of small grower cooperatives’ farms, owned by more than 30,000 agrarian reform beneficiaries and loss of livelihood of over 500,000 people dependent on the banana industry.

This would also affect other industries related to banana export.

The Philippine Banana Growers and Exporters’ Association, (PBGEA), aerial spraying is the safest and most effective means of dispersing approved pesticide against black “sigatoka,” considered as the most destructive airborne disease of bananas. For the past 40 years of aerial spraying in the Philippines and for the past 108 years in Latin America, the practice has not adversely affected anyone.