When Reuben Muriki fainted while doing a chore at his home in central Kenya, it marked the beginning of a severe multi-year decline that left him unable to walk on his own, speaking incoherently, and requiring round-the-clock care from his mother, Margaret Mwanjaro. Muriki is among numerous workers in the horticultural town of Timau who have fallen ill over the years after spraying chemicals at local flower farms, with relatives and former employees attributing their failing health to pesticide exposure.
Muriki is now one of 87 people seeking to join a class-action court petition against the Kenyan government and five agrochemical companies—Monsanto, Syngenta, Bayer, BASF and Nairobi-based Twiga Chemical Industries—challenging the sale of highly hazardous pesticides. Filed in 2022 by the nonprofit African Centre for Corrective and Preventive Action and environmental and human rights lawyer Kelvin Kubai, the case targets products containing lethal active ingredients. Scientists hired by the petitioners tested all 87 applicants and reportedly found levels of paraquat and glyphosate above permissible levels in every sample, while pathologists noted that participants presented with at least three major medical conditions, most commonly Parkinson’s disease and throat inflammations.
Health Toll in Timau
Timau, a town of about 10,000 people, has hosted horticultural companies for decades, employing thousands of area workers. Over the years, many of these workers have fallen sick, and some have died young. Mwanjaro believes her son’s condition—which involved swollen joints, skin discoloration, breathing difficulties, and frequent losses of consciousness—directly stems from the pesticides he sprayed. Doctors previously treated Muriki for suspected tuberculosis in vain, and he was eventually forced to quit his job as a sprayer.
Prof Zakayo Thaimuta, a pathologist working with the petitioners, stated that they were unable to find any other cause for the conditions affecting Muriki except his chemical levels. In Muriki’s urine sample, scientists discovered nearly 200 times the reference limit for paraquat and 48 times the reference limit for glyphosate.
Legal Battle and Regulatory Concerns
Concerns have grown over chemicals that pose severe risks, including some that are banned in the EU, with research pointing to a huge presence and use of HHPs in Kenya.
Kelvin Kubai criticized the situation, stating that Europe has a failed export and pesticide policy and that the Kenyan farmer is paying the cost for that failed policy.
