The Hindu : Study finds pesticide 'highly hazardous'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jul 10, 2002

Southern States

Southern States - Kerala

Study finds pesticide 'highly hazardous'

By Our Staff Reporter

PALAKKAD JULY 9. The World Health Organisation (WHO) and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) have found that the controversial endosulfan pesticide is highly hazardous to health and environment.

In a study, while the USEPA classified endosulfan as "highly hazardous,'' the WHO classified it as "moderately hazardous.'' The liver and kidney are the main organs affected by it in long exposure studies. A moderately high dose of endosulfan can cause anaemia. A high dose can lead to death.

Endosulfan affects the immune system on medium-term exposure. It affects the nervous system which produces hyperacidity, tremors, decreased respiration, breathing problems, salivation and convulsions. At high doses it causes reproductive toxicity in humans.

A 1992 study published in journal Carcinogenesis concluded that endosulfan could act as a tumor promoter. It is also found to be mutagenic and causes damage to chromosomes.

Endosulfan is an organic chlorine. Its common trade names in India are agrosulphan, agiro sulphan, banej sulphan, cilo sulphan, endocel, endo-chithin, thiodon, veg-fru thiotox, and veg-fru thiotex. These are persistent organic pollutants (POP). There is now a move to ban POPs worldwide because of their link to cancer and long-term effects on humans, the immune system and reproduction.

Between 1990-93 in South Sulawesi, a province in Indonesia, 32 people died of endosulfan poisoning. In 1990, the National Poison Control Information Centre, Philippines, recorded 85 deaths and 278 cases of poisoning. At least 60 persons died in Columbia in 1993. In Brazil, 313 deaths were recorded during 1982-91 period. In Sudan, 31 people died in 1991 and in Malaysia endosulfan has been the third most important cause of pesticide poisoning.

In Ecuador, India, Mauritius and Paraguay, it has been identified as the pesticide of primary concern due to health and environmental problem. Yet, the Achuthan Committee report in Kerala could not find enough "evidence to implicate or exonerate endosulfan as a causative factor of health problems.''

Philippines has banned its use in rice cultivation. In 1993, Philippines restricted its use to products containing no more than five per cent endosulfan. It is banned in Singapore and Colombia. In Bangladesh, Indonesia, Korea and Thailand, it is not allowed to be used in rice fields. Canada, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Russia, Sri Lanka and Thailand have severely restricted its use.

It is fairly immobile in soil but can get transported over long distance by air. It can pollute surface water by getting carried through soil particles either in run-off water or fall-out as dust. It is least favoured for aerial spraying because it can be transported over long distance by air.

The Chairman of the National Farmers Protection Committee, K. Ravikumar, alleged that despite the fact that aerial spraying of this pesticide was most dangerous the industry and the Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) used it to increase its consumption. The PCK thus violated all the rules and regulations when it sprayed endosulfan in its cashew plantations of Kasaragod.

The Pesticide Act prescribes that aerial spraying should be undertaken at a height of 2-3 metres and that all water bodies in the area must be covered. Aerial spraying of the chemical was never allowed by the Central Insecticide Board (CIB) after 1993. The farmers say that the pesticide is widely used in vegetables, rice, cotton and other cash crops in Palakkad district as its adverse effect on health and environment are not known.

The State-owned Kerala Soaps and Oils Limited claims that it has developed organic pesticides that could replace the use of endosulfan and dicofol. This option should be seriously examined by the State Government and the Agriculture Department.

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