"DR Congo workers for Feronia made impotent by pesticides - HRW", 25 November 2019

Workers exposed to pesticides at a UK-funded firm in the Democratic Republic of Congo have complained of becoming impotent, a rights group has said...

...The UK government's development bank, CDC, owns 38% of Feronia in DR Congo.It said Feronia had invested heavily in protective equipment and all workers were required to wear it.

Feronia...said...it had spent $360,000 (£280,000) on personal protective equipment...which workers had been trained to use, and it had implemented a policy requiring the equipment to be worn in the workplace...

...Impotence - along with shortness of breath, headaches, and weight loss that the workers complained about - were health problems "consistent with exposure to pesticides in general..."...

...At the Yaligimba plantation, the company dumped the waste from its palm oil mill next to workers' homes...

...The rights group also accused Feronia of paying "extreme poverty" wages...

In a statement, CDC said: "Palm Oil Mill Effluent (POME)...does not threaten human health. A treatment plant for POME represents a multimillion dollar investment - money that the company has chosen instead to spend on housing, clean water provision, healthcare and educational facilities for employees, their families and other members of the local communities. It is the aim of the company to build treatment plants...but is regrettably not in a financial position to do so currently...In addition, the company has refurbished or dug 72 new boreholes for the provision of clean water..."

...[Feronia said]  working conditions had improved considerably since the involvement of the European banks in 2013. Employees were now paid substantially more than the minimum wage...It also confirmed that it had invested considerably in access to safe drinking water...