Indian govt, Idukki farmers still flirting with pesticides danger
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COMMENTS 
Even as a committee of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants proposes a ban on use of the deadly Endosulfan pesticide, many farmers in Idukki have stepped up its use in cardamom plantations. Shockingly, India is opposed to the ban
A United Nations-backed committee of scientists has said it wants a ban on Endosulfan, a highly toxic pesticide still used on crops including cotton, rice and tea in some countries, including India. A committee of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants said recently that it “recommended listing Endosulfan in Annex A of the convention, with specific exemptions, a move that would lead to its elimination from the global market”.
Member states of the convention are due to meet in April 2011 to decide whether they will end the use of the highly toxic chemical, which is already banned in 60 countries due to its harmful effects on the nervous system.
However, unmindful of these developments at the international level, and a 2002 ban on Endosulfan imposed by the Kerala High Court, cardamom planters in Pooppara, Udumbanchola and Rajakumari areas of Idukki district in Kerala are freely using the pesticide.
Endosulfan is a wide-spectrum insecticide, not associated with any particular insect, which makes it more acceptable for naïve farmers.
Easy availability from the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu and its effectiveness as a pesticide has made Endosulfan a preferred choice of farmers. There are no specific checks at inter-state checkposts and pesticide bottles bought from shops in Tamil Nadu freely cross the border.
Middlemen carry bottles of the pesticide on their bikes, selling them at plantations at almost double the price. A local planter pays up to Rs 300-400 for a one-litre bottle. According to local pesticide trader Jijo, small farmers in the area demand Endosulfan every day. “They knew it has serious after-effects. But Endosulfan is highly effective in controlling pests such as stem borer. Though not available in shops in the area, agents from Tamil Nadu are selling it here,” he said.
Social activists allege an increase in cases of cancer and skin diseases. Some farmers too are aware of the dangers. O J Varkey, a cardamom farmer, said small farmers were not using Endosulfan though it was easily available. “It is the big estate owners who are taking this extreme step for profit. The poor plantation workers don’t know its ill-effects,” he added.
What’s raising eyebrows is India’s opposition to the proposed global ban on the pesticide. Kerala’s Forest Minister Benoy Viswom has openly criticised the stand: “India’s stand is not right. The general consensus at the Stockholm Convention was in favour of the ban. India should have supported that view instead of becoming a spokesman for the pesticides lobby.”
Viswom had earlier written to Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh urging that India should take a stand in favour of the ban at the meeting. He recalled that the chemical, used indiscriminately in cashew plantations in Kasaragod district for years, had caused serious and chronic illnesses, forcing the Kerala High Court to intervene in the matter in 2002, leading to the imposition of a ban in Kerala.
The 2001 Stockholm treaty, which counts 172 signatories, originally covered 12 chemicals known as persistent organic pollutants because they do not break down over time in the environment and accumulate in soil, water, the foodchain and in human tissue or organs such as the liver. It now covers a total of 21 chemicals, including the insecticide Lindane and pesticide DDT.
Source: The Hindu, October 20, 2010
AFP, October 20, 2010
The New Indian Express, October 20, 2010