Kerala chief minister takes endosulfan issue to Delhi

Kasargod in Kerala & south Karnataka are worst affected

 
Back home, many organisations have been building up their campaign like never before through posters, demonstrations and legal intervention.

The High Court on Friday ordered that notice be issued to the public sector Hindustan Insecticide Ltd which manufactures endosulfan on a public interest petition seeking to constitute a tribunal to grant compensation to those affected by the spraying of the pesticide in Kasargod district.

The National Human Rights Commission has also issued notice to the secretaries of the Union Environment and Forests Ministry and the Agriculture Ministry and the Chief Secretary of Kerala on reports that the aerial spraying of endosulfan in Kasargod district of Kerala had affected people severely.

Neuro disorders

As reported, the pesticide’s continuous application is believed to have caused genetic disorders among the people in Kasargod and parts of south Karnataka leading to its ban in Kerala in 2005.

It was revealed  that an abnormally large number of people reported neuro disorders, women had abnormalities in menstrual cycle and children were born with physical deformities.

Many of these people hailed from the areas surrounding the cashew plantations owned by the Plantation Corporation of Kerala where the pesticide was aerially sprayed for about 20 years.

However, successive inquiry committees had failed to zero in on the role of the pesticide in causing these disorders. A couple of these inquiries did note that circumstantial evidence pointed to the possibility of aerial spraying having caused the anomaly.

Meanwhile, Union Minister for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh has said a ban would have national repercussions since the pesticide was cheap and could not be substituted for several crops.

However, the use of the pesticide is banned or phased out from many countries including the United States and review meetings of Stockholm Convention had considered endosulfan as a persistent organic pollutant.

Left MPs from the state had sat on a dharna in front of Parliament two weeks ago to highlight the sufferings of the “endosulfan victims”.