Banana Plantations Kill Turtles

Second only to cotton, banana production is one of the most polluting agricultural industries in the world. More than two-thirds of the forest that once covered Costa Rica is now banana plantation. And as banana exportation increases, and the quality of soil bombarded with agro-chemicals decreases, even more forest will fall to the axe of monoculture. Eighteen hardwood trees are critically endangered and animals such as monkeys and sloths are rendered homeless because of the American and European demand for bananas.

However, the ecological effects of banana production in Latin America is not restricted to land. In Costa Rica, bananas don’t turn yellow when they ripen – they turn blue: As soon as bananas begin losing green color, blue plastic bags are placed over the ripening fruit to “protect” them from insects. These bags are drenched, often by workers with no safety equipment at all, in what the World Health Organization classifies as “moderately hazardous” chemicals.

The polyethylene bags are as deadly as the chemicals themselves. After the bags have served the purpose of creating unblemished “perfect” fruit for the Western consumers, they are most often disposed of in open-air dumps where they are not contained. And since many banana plantations line streams and rivers, and the majority of them are on the Caribbean Coast - a prime sea turtle nesting area - the bags often end up in the ocean. Unfortunately, many sea turtles are destined to die in the same place they took their first swim. The pesticide-ridden bags that find their way out to sea are easily mistaken as food by the endangered sea turtle species that feed on jellyfish. And with 4,406 tons of polyethylene bags used every year in Costa Rica alone, it’s no wonder that countless sea turtles have been found suffocated on the banana industries’ propensity for low-cost and cosmetically-perfect fruit.

Turtle Defense International (TDI) supports small-scale organic banana production as an alternative to large-scale Transnational monoculture. In addition, TDI favors the installation of solid waste traps in place of open-air dumps. Polyethylene bags can also be recycled after the insecticide has lost its toxicity.

Information above obtained from Banana Link and Foro Emaus

THE BIG THREE

Contact the “Big Three” banana Transnational Corporations, the three largest exporters of bananas from Latin America, and request that they ban Chlorpyrifos-drenched “blue bags” on all their banana plantations. Demand that they adopt Corporate Social and Environmental Responsibility by making the conversion from open air dumps to solid waste traps and that they invest money into the recycling of used bags.

Chiquita Brands International, Inc.
250 East Fifth Street
Cincinnati, OH 45202
United States
(513) 784 8000

Dole Food Co.
5480 Viaduct Rocas
Westlake Village, CA 91362
United States
(818) 879 6600

Del Monte Fresh Produce Company
P.O. Box 149222
Coral Gables, FL 33114-9222
United States
(305) 520 8400
Fax (305) 567 0320
Contact-US-Executive-Office@freshdelmonte.com