“Killer pesticides” in Saudi Arabia … “Camels died and locusts remained”? FactCheck #

Scenes of a dead camel. Hours ago, social media abuzz with allegations that these are “the achievements of the Ministry of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They sprayed palm trees with deadly pesticides to eradicate the locust … so I ate camels from the leaves … camels died and the locusts remained.” These scenes were attached to another video, especially via WhatsApp, for someone spraying a tree with a solution. What happened to the camel? And where? What did the results of the analysis show? FactCheck #

The result: The video was taken in # Saudi Arabia, but in two different places, according to what appears. The video # Camels _ hypocrisy was filmed specifically in the Jazan region in the southwest of the kingdom, according to the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture, while the “circulating spray section is for operations carried out in Hotat Bani Tamim,” a governorate located south of Riyadh, noting that “there is no relationship between the two sections “.

As for the cause of camel mortality, the results of the analyzes conducted by the ministry showed that “the samples are free of any traces of pesticides that the ministry uses in locust control work. But it also showed the presence of residues from pesticides other than those used by the ministry,” according to what it announced.

“The Day” was checked for you

The facts: Several days ago, camel camel videos intensified on various social platforms, on Facebook (here, here, here, here, here, here …) and Twitter (Here, Here, Here, Here, Here…). He has attached, on WhatsApp, another video (here) that shows someone spraying a tree with a solution. In the allegations circulated with the video (without interference or correction): “The achievements of the Ministry of Agriculture in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. They sprayed palm trees with lethal pesticides to exterminate the locust … So I ate the camels from the leaves … The camels died and the locusts remained.”

Checking:

1- Using Invid technology and reverse image search, the search leads to Saudi Arabia, where it appears that the portable video related to the dead camels is intensifying its spread starting at least February 4, 2020 (here, here), with the title: “A shocking scene of the death of a herd of camels in Al Darb Governorate Due to locust poison “, and” the death of a number of camels due to pesticides “…

Several news websites have reported this news, along with the same video transmitted (such as here, here, here, here, here, here). The title: “Locust poison kills dozens of camels along the trail.” All of them reported that “sources reported that the Darb Governorate in Jizan region witnessed a sudden death of dozens of camels, and another poisoning injury, due to spraying of insecticides to control locusts in some farms.”

Saudi Ministry of Environment investigations

2 – In fact, the Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water and Agriculture entered the line, after the spread of the video of dead camels, and the words of its users responsible for killing camels “because of the pesticides that they use to fight locusts.” On February 8, 2020, I confirmed that “The dead camel clip (picked) in the Jazan region (southwestern Saudi Arabia), while the rolling spray section is for (spraying) operations that took place in Hotat Bani Tamim” (Governorate located south of Riyadh).

The ministry’s spokesperson, Dr. Abdullah Aba Al-Khail, said in a statement posted on his Twitter account that “No relationship between syllables Which shows the continuous spraying operations carried out by the Ministry to control the locusts, and between the video clip that shows the camel’s death, and the suggestion of the clip that the reason for its death is the spraying of locusts carried out by the Ministry in Jizan.

He said: “The ministry received a notification stating the death of camels and the appearance of signs of disease for other camels in the same place in the coast of Atoud in the Jazan region, and immediately, the veterinary teams went, infected cases started, they completed their first aid and performed the necessary medical operations. They took samples from the dead and infected camels, along with Samples of soil, fodder and trees in the region, and the Ministry will announce the results of the analysis as soon as it is issued from the Ministry’s central laboratory and make reference comparisons.

He pointed out that “the ministry has been carrying out spraying operations since the beginning of the locust crisis in early 2019, and there has been no infection between livestock as a result of spraying since then,” stressing that “all pesticides used by the ministry in spraying are approved by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations” FAO. Likewise, spraying teams do not start control activities until after coordination with the governorates.

Explanatory statement about video clips linking Ebel’s mortality to locust spray operations pic.twitter.com/2u03uYHcpX

– Ministry of Environment spokesperson (@MEWAspokesman) February 8, 2020

On February 10, 2020, “The Ministry’s laboratory analyzes revealed that samples were free of any traces of pesticides used by the ministry in locust control work. But it also showed residues from pesticides other than those used by the ministry,” the spokesman for the Saudi ministry said. He stressed that “the ministry will complete its procedures for verifying the pesticides that appeared in the laboratory analysis, and, God willing, it will announce what it has reached.”

In addition to what was reported about the poisoning of some camels in the Jizan region, analyzes of the Ministry’s laboratories indicated that the samples were free of any traces of pesticides used by the Ministry in locust control work.
However, the results also showed residuals of other pesticides not used by the Ministry.

– Ministry of Environment spokesperson (@MEWAspokesman) February 10, 2020

The ministry will complete its procedures to verify the pesticides that appeared in the laboratory analysis, and, God willing, it will announce what it has reached.

– Ministry of Environment spokesperson (@MEWAspokesman) February 10, 2020

To this day, neither the ministry nor its spokesperson has published anything additional on this issue.

The result: She confirmed The Saudi Ministry of Environment, Water, and Agriculture claims that allegations of camel death are “deadly pesticides used by the Saudi authorities in controlling locusts”. She declared, “The samples are free of any traces of pesticides that they use in locust control. But they also showed residues of pesticides other than those used by the ministry.”

The video shows the deaths of camels in the Jazan region in the southwest of the Kingdom, while “the circulating spray section is for operations that took place in Hotat Bani Tamim,” a governorate located south of Riyadh. “There is no relationship between the two syllables.”