Neth Daño, the representative to the Philippines of Third World Network wrote:

As per radio reports on DZRH just now, the ill-fated M/V Princess of the
Stars was carrying a container-full of Endosulfan (manufacturer: Bayer CropScience) - a neurotoxic organochlorine insecticide, one of the "Dirty Dozen" banned for some years now in many countries, including ours. If you will recall, Endosulfan was banned in the Philippines in 1994.

If the pesticide cargo is owned by Del Monte, then it will not be used in Cebu, but most likely in Bukidnon in Northern Mindanao where their thousands of hectares of pineapple plantations are located. The M/V Princess of the Stars disaster has now exposed that a "reputable corporation" like Del Monte is using tons of a banned pesticides (if radio report were true that it is indeed Endosulfan - and we can expect massive cover ups) on their pineapples meant for export.

Radio interview with divers say that they have difficulty breathing underwater from the first time they started the search-and-rescue operations early this week, which made it very hard to recover bodies inside the upside-down ship.

Tragic to think about the long-term effects of such a highly toxic and endocrine-disruptin g pesticide on corals, water and the entire marine ecosystem off Sibuyan Island and adjacent water bodies...

(;-)Neth