This morning the Department of Special Investigations (DSI) announced that they had successfully raided a business which had been mixing paraquat, a toxic chemical that is widely used as an herbicide (plant killer), primarily for weed and grass control, under the guise of being organic. The investigators and team confiscated over 20 million baht’s worth of products.
The director of DSI Region 5 said that this arrest and confiscation follows an investigation which lead them to confiscate these goods from a total of eight places; one in Bangkok, three in Uttaradit and four in Chiang Mai. All production has been halted and investigators are now looking into other products.
The punishment, should the court decide this was a criminal violation, will be up to ten years in jail, and or, a one million baht fine.
The DSI say that they fear there may be more to this investigation as though the producers have been arrested and products confiscated, they say that this group of people also have many products which they sell online and which now also must be tested.
They also fear that there may be many other people and businesses out there who are selling paraquat-laced products under the guise of organic products and urge farmers to be cautious.
Read about the realities of organic produce in this Citylife article.