Centre makes U-turn on banning toxic, carcinogenic pesticides

The Pesticide Action Network slammed the move which decides to ban only three of the 27 pesticides

Three years after proposing to ban 27 pesticides identified as health hazards by an expert committee, the Union government has made a U-turn by leaving out 24 of them from the banned list.

The original notification had listed the cause for banning each of the 27 pesticides, ranging from endocrine disruption, carcinogenic impurities, being highly toxic, being toxic for aquatic organisms, birds, and honey bees, contamination of DDT and other reasons.

The Pesticide Action Network (PAN) on Friday noted that the Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare has gone back on its ban decision without giving any explanation.

The draft notification issued in May 2020 said the Central government held a consultation with the authorities and was satisfied that the "use of 27 insecticides is likely to involve risk to human beings and animals". The notification proposed a ban on the import, manufacture, sale, transport, distribution and use of those pesticides, including acephate, atrazine, Benfuracarb, and Thiram among others. A month later, the government amended the draft to allow the production and export of these pesticides.

PAN slammed the latest amendment to the draft notification published on February 16, which decides to ban only three of the 27 pesticides. Eight have been left out for "label claim change" while 16 others have been dropped without any reason.

The four-member expert committee led by Anupam Varma reviewed a total of 66 pesticides before submitting its report in 2015. The report recommended a complete ban on 13 pesticides, a review of 27 others in 2018, and phasing out of six by 2020 among other measures.

In a letter to the Joint Secretary of the Agriculture Department, PAN India said that among the 16 pesticides that are left out, four have been classified as highly hazardous by international institutions, including the Joint Meeting of Pesticide Management which advises WHO and FAO. The remaining 12 fit the highly hazardous criteria of PAN International, it added.

PAN India chief executive officer A D Dileep Kumar urged the ministry to ban all 27 pesticides without delay. "We expect the Ministry to stand by the findings of its expert committee and that it will base its final decision on independent, global and scientific evidence and the concrete experiences of the farmers, not the self-serving and profit-motivated statements by the chemical industry," he said.