| |
HEALTH : PESTICIDE MENACE
Inadequate Precautions
|
|
| UNWARRANTED PAIN: Mamatha's parents cannot afford
the cost of her treatment |
While there is no
concrete evidence linking the pesticide to the health problems, areca
nut grower and Endosulfan Spray Protest Action Committee (ESPAC) spokesman
Shree Padre is convinced it is Endosulfan that is behind the misery. "These
afflictions are caused by the aerial spraying of Endosulfan," he
insists. PCK sprays the pesticide twice or thrice a year from helicopters
to protect the hilltop cashew plantations spread over 4,700 hectare.
Endosulfan is
banned in Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden in the West and
in Singapore, the Philippines, Thailand, Bangladesh and Korea in Asia.
In Kerala, however, it is not only being used but being employed without
the necessary precautions. It is mandatory to cover all water sources
like wells, tanks and other water bodies during the spraying of the toxic
pesticide. "In one village alone, there are nearly 600 water bodies.
How can anybody cover them?" asks Bellur panchayat president Chandrashekhara
Rao Kallaga, WHO is now actively seeking a ban on the spraying of the
pesticide. Numerous cases of occupational poisoning have been reported.
Proper protective clothing (safety goggles, gloves, full sleeved garments
and respirator) is needed to prevent poisoning when handling Endosulfan.
Another concern, especially in developing countries, is that people with
low-protein diets are more sensitive to the effects of this pesticide.
|
|
|
BORN TO AGONY: Eleven-month-old Sainaba died on June 4 of a hydrocephalus
|
The Centre for Science and Environment in Delhi
conducted tests on samples collected from the Padre village under the
guidance of Padma Vankar of the Facility for Ecological and Analytical
Testing at the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. Vankar was shocked
at the extremely high levels of pesticide residues in all the samples,
"The figures were alarming, especially for human blood, fruits and
animal tissue. This may have something to do with the high incidence of
disorders of the central nervous system in the village," he says.
While the PCK cannot be immediately blamed for
the afflictions, the symptoms noticed in the area do tally with those
of Endosulfan poisoning. Yet this does not explain why only the region
abutting Swarga is affected when cashew plantations in other areas are
also sprayed with Endosulfan. Kumar, however, has a pertinent question:
"Is Endosulfan necessary at all for cashew plantations? Why not organic
farming?"
|
|
| STUNTED: 20-year-old Narayan is 3 ft tall |
The villagers have turned to the judiciary for
remedy. They have obtained a stay order from the Kasargod munsiff court
against the aerial spraying (the last spray was done on December 26 last
year). The petition filed in the high court by Kumar, Prabharath Shastry
and Devappa Naik will probably come up for hearing before the next spraying
season in October. "Being located on the borders, we are a no-man's
land. The Karnataka and Kerala governments have generally ignored us,"
says Kumar. "It is time the Centre took a kinder look at us."
Central agencies like the Indian Council for Medical Research should study
the problem and find a permanent solution, he feels. The cash in cashew
is probably too tempting for anyone to bother about the plight of these
villagers. But surely people are more important than profits.
|
|
METRO TODAY
Web
Exclusives
