Endless Miseries of Endosulfan
Dr.K.M.Seethi & Reghunathan M.
This handicapped Keralite girl is a victim of endosulfan Kasargod - The controversy surrounding the perilous impact of endosulfan on humans and animals, consequent upon the aerial spraying in a cashew plantation in the Kasargod district of Kerala, has set in motion a wave of protest against the pesticide use in the state. The experience of Kerala, a state that has earned world-wide acclaim for its health and educational standards, and is known for its environmental consciousness, could be an eye-opener to other states in India and elsewhere.
For more than five decades, the Third World has been a money- spinning market for pesticides. Seldom did the people in these countries realise that the increasing and, most often, reckless use of pesticides would result in enormous human, environmental and social costs. Similarly, many countries just ignore the fact that the pesticides they import from the West are either banned or restricted in the West due to their adverse impact on health and environment. However, pesticides' consumption has been very high in the Third World countries and they continue with the production/import and use of many dangerous pesticides, notwithstanding their perilous effects. It is in the Third World again that people are dangerously exposed to a variety of pesticides. Many studies say that these countries have registered very high incidences of pesticide poisoning, which pointed to the single most important reason for occupational hazard for farmers and the nearby communities.
The pesticide-related health problems in the Third World are mounting, mainly due to improper handling, use, and methods of storage. More than 75 per cent of pesticides are applied directly, by hand or with the physical presence of farmers/operators. Safety measures are seldom taken and, consequently, pesticides are easily absorbed through skin or lungs. In most cases, farmers are not given any proper training. Pesticides may not also carry instructions, particularly in the native language of the farmers. The situation is all the more serious in the case of farmers who are illiterates.
A number of villages in Kasargod have been severely affected by endosulfan, a dangerous insecticide which has already earned the disrepute as a silent killer. For over three decades since the early 1970s, the state-owned Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) has been recklessly carrying on aerial spraying of endosulfan thrice a year using helicopters to check tea-mosquito attack. In less than a decade, the farmers of the villages here noted that the cattle population had developed serious health problems due to water contamination after aerial spraying. Later on, women and children began to show signs of some serious ailments. Having realised the ill-effects of endosulfan on humans and animals, villagers in Mulleria, Periye and Padre started protesting.
However, the PCK went ahead with the insecticide spray under police protection and, in some places like Mulleria, hundreds of policemen were deployed to drive away the villagers who were agitating. The matter came to the public attention when a physician of the locality, Mohan Kumar, brought it to the notice of the medical community a few years back. A practising doctor that he has been over two decades, Mohan Kumar had first hand information regarding the rising incidences of mental retarded cases, blood cancer, psychiatric problems and numerous other serious illnesses among the local population who were exposed to endosulfan spray.
Another innocent victim of toxic pesticide use The villagers who used to have water from the nearby rivulets in the region which were contaminated by the insecticide are the worst affected. Physical disorders and serious illnesses like cerebral palsy, abdominal cancer, uterine cancer, breast enlargement, children with congeniality, deformed legs and hands, children with twisted limps, bulging skulls, scaly skins etc. are quite common among the people irrespective of the class, caste, sex and age. Mohan Kumar says that the prevalence of these diseases is very high on both sides of Padre rivulet, which extends to an area of 5 sq. km involving nearly 400 families. During the last decade, there were dozens of cancer cases reported from the area. Similarly, cases of depression, epilepsy, infertility, chronic asthma, and genetic disorders were on the increase. A survey conducted among the 123 households in Padre village indicated that at least one person in each household was afflicted with some ailments. Suicidal deaths have also been reportedly mounting due to the agonies. Mohan Kumar had taken up this with the Kerala Medical Journal a few years back pointing to the gravity of the situation. According to him, residues of endosulfan sprayed on hilltops of these hilly tracks reached the rivulet and other water bodies, thereby getting into the bodies of people living around through water.
The endosulfan menace came to public attention again when the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE), New Delhi had undertaken a serious study in Kasargod. The study came out in February 2001 when Down to Earth, a publication of the CSE, brought out startling information on the impact of endosulfan which continued to cause serious health problems in Kasaragod. According to the CSE study, endosulfan levels in the villages were several times higher than maximum residue limits (MRL) in vegetables, cow's milk, water and soil.
Sensitive of the popular response and the flashes in the local newspapers, the government of Kerala banned the aerial spraying of endosulfan for two months in August 2001 and later it was extended for another month. This was subsequently lifted saying that the government had no authority to order a permanent ban on the use of endosulfan under the Pesticides Act. When the public cry was mounting, the state government just asked the PCK not to use the insecticide in the cashew plantation. Meanwhile, the government had turned a blind eye to the study reports submitted by various agencies. For example, the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) had presented a report to the Government of India linking the pesticide to the prevalence of health disorders.
Ordinary people unable to react?
The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) asked the NIOH, an affiliated body concerned with issues relating to occupation hazards of workers, to undertake a study. The NIOH report, which was completed in March 2002, has not yet been made public for obvious reasons. The pesticide lobby has apparently been moving heaven and earth to undercut the negative findings on the use of endosulfan. The report had found endosulfan residues in water and blood samples collected from Padre in September and October 2001 about ten months after the pesticide had last been sprayed on the region's cashew crops. The NIOH noted that there was a significantly higher prevalence of learning disabilities, low IQ and scholastic backwardness among children, besides serious neurological problems and congenital and reproductive abnormalities among people in the region. It has also been found that workers in the cashew plantations had neurological problems such as trembling hands.
Another scientific study (Achuthan Committee Report), commissioned during the Left Democratic Front (LDF) rule, stated that the unusually high incidence of diseases like cancer was caused by endosulfan. It had recommended banning the pesticide in the area for five years, instituting a medical insurance scheme for the affected people and extending financial assistance to those afflicted with maladies suspected to have been caused by endosulfan. The fact-finding mission from the Pesticide Action Network - Asia and the Pacific (PAN-AP) led by Romeo F. Quijano visited the villages in January 2002 and recommended banning of endosulfan permanently and extending relief measures and medical assistance to the affected people. The Indian Medical Association(IMA) also said that there is enough evidence indicating that the chronic morbidity, including malignancies, found in the area tallied with the known and authenticated harmful side effects of endosulfan. The IMA in its report pointed out that the Padre village has high morbidity and incidence of congenital malformations, malignancies etc compared to other places.
Environmental groups in Kerala pointed out that the pesticide lobby has been campaigning to establish that endosulfan is harmless. Before the lifting of the ban, the PCK had sponsored a study, which tried to establish that the pesticide could not be linked to Kasaragod's health problems. Villagers, however, believe the government is not taking enough action to investigate the issue. They also accused the PCK and the governmental authorities of suppressing the startling data on the impact of endosulfan on health and environment.
What is to be noted here is that the use of endosulfan is not confined to the villages in Kasargod, though the impact of it felt most visibly in those places. These investigators, upon a survey of the use of pesticides elsewhere in the state, found that this insecticide has been extensively used in places like Palghat, Wayanad, Peerumdu and other places in the south. In tea and coffee plantations, endosulfan has been sprayed indiscriminately and, in most cases, poor farmers and workers have no knowledge of the type of pesticides they handle and their adverse impact on bio-ecosystems. These investigators also found that in many places in Kerala and Tamil Nadu where crops and vegetables are grown, endosulfan is a 'necessary agent' to protect them from pests. In private conversation, the officers in the Department of Agriculture in Kerala and Tamil Nadu admitted that endosulfan is being sold without any proper instructions given to farmers. Surprisingly, many do not even identify the pesticides they purchase and their toxicity levels. Consequently, they indiscriminately use them without safeguards, exposing themselves to contamination.
An important milestone in the people's struggle against endosulfan was the intervention of the High Court of Kerala. In a remarkable judgment on 12 August 2002, a Division Bench of the High Court prohibited the use of endosulfan and any of its formulations under any of the trade names in Kerala. On a writ petition filed by the Nature-Lovers Movement, People's Council for Social Justice and Samata Law Society, the High court said that they were left with the question whether they should ban the pesticide during the period that might be taken by the advisory committee, appointed by the Central Government, to decide the issue or not. The solution was two-fold - temporary ban on the sale and distribution of the insecticide and its use without any restriction. If it was of the view that endosulfan was an innocuous substance, and not toxic, the stay of sale and distribution of the pesticide meant that none of the companies could manufacture it. If it were toxic, the Bench would become a party to endangering the life of citizens. Therefore, the court said that it decided to choose the lesser of the two evils and impose a temporary ban on the use of endosulfan. Counsel for the Pesticide Manufacturers and Formulators (PMFA) Association had argued that the ban on the use of endosulfan was unwarranted. However, the High Court of Kerala rejected the defence of the pesticide lobby. This, in fact, has thrown open the question of a total ban to the Central government which has to decide the case taking the experiences elsewhere of the impact of endosulfan use and the scientific evidences supporting the ill-effects of the same.
Needless to say, endosulfan is one of the dangerous insecticides belonging to the class of compounds called organochlorines. Introduced wayback in the 1950s, it has been used against different types of insects and mites which destroy cereals, coffee, cotton, fruits, oil seeds, potato, tea, vegetables and other crops. It is also being used as a wood preservative. India is one of the largest global producers of endosulfan. Endosulfan has been extensively used, and is one of the prime agents of pesticide poisoning in many countries. This insecticide has been found dreadfully toxic to fish and other aquatic life.
Of all the pollutants released into the environment every year by human activity, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) are among the most dangerous. POPs, which do not subside in the environment once released, would accumulate in the tissues of animals and work their way up the food chain to cause several diseases. Endosulfan being the most important of the POPs, there is certainly a case for a global ban due to its acute toxicity. While the WHO places endosulfan in Category 2 (moderately hazardous), the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) classifies it as Category Ib (highly hazardous) pesticide for it is quickly absorbed by human body. Reports point to innumerable cases of both suicidal and occupational poisoning. Safety measures like protective clothing, safety goggles, gloves, long sleeves, long pants, respirator are most often ignored when handling endosulfan. Endosulfan was identified as a major cause of pesticide poisonings in Philippines, which prompted the government to ban the insecticide in early 1990s.
Long term consequences The short-term toxicity of endosulfan could be of immediate concern to many but there are several long-term consequences. Even at low levels of exposure, as various studies suggest, endosulfan would have adverse effects on the immune system. The central nervous system would be the main target of this substance. Frequent exposure may result in serious ailments. Acute toxicity of endosulfan would damage vital organs of the body. The liver and kidney will be badly affected in prolonged exposure. At high doses endosulfan can bring in anemia. Protein deficiency or other stress factors would add to this effect. Immunotoxicity would be a more sensitive end-point of endosulfan.
Click for detailed view Various studies say that humans could be at risk for adverse immune effects. The most palpable signs of acute exposure are hyperactivity, tremors, decreased respiration, difficulty in breathing, salivation, and convulsions. High acute exposure may cause long-term neurotoxic effects. Endosulfan could also cause reproductive toxicity at high doses. Likewise, low birth weight, as well as adverse behavioural effects, has been observed in several studies. It may produce both maternal and developmental toxicity in humans. A study conducted by Fransson-Steen et al. had shown that endosulfan could act as a tumour promoter. It causes damage to chromosomes (clastogenic) and induces cell cycle effects. Learn to Recognize the Symptoms
Environmental Disaster
Endosulfan can travel over long distances in air, but it is seen as immobile in soil. In soil, endosulfan sulphate, which is the main breakdown product, could persist for longer periods. Environmental consequences of endosulfan are far-reaching. It is highly toxic to aqua life causing extensive damage even when used at recommended levels. Because of this, endosulfan should not be sprayed over marshlands or bodies of water.
Endosulfan has been sold under different trade names in different countries such as Endol, Endotox, Agrosulphan, AgiroSulphan, Endocel, Pesticel Remisfan, Thiodon, Thiokill, Veg-fru thiotox, Vika-sulfan, to name only a few. However, a number of countries, including Belize and Singapore, banned endosulfan. It is not approved to be used in rice fields in Bangladesh, Indonesia, Korea and Thailand. The use is severely restricted in Canada, Denmark, Finland, Great Britain, Kuwait, Netherlands, Philippines, Russia, Sri Lanka and Thailand.
The Pesticide Action Network recorded a number of cases of adverse effects of endosulfan in different countries. In the State of Alabama, United States, endosulfan caused the death of more than 240,000 fish along a 25 km stretch of a river a few years back as a result of the run-off from cotton fields where this insecticide was used. In early 1990s, endosulfan was the primary cause of pesticide poisoning in Indonesia. The National Poison Control Information Centre of the Philippines recorded 278 poisonings including 85 deaths due to endosulfan in 1990. In 1993 the Philippines took a decision to curb the use of endosulfan, and to ban its use in rice cultivation based on the reports of adverse effects on aquatic systems, and toxicity to fish, birds, fowl and other animals. This was in conformity with the recommendations of FAO. In Colombia, at least 60 people were poisoned and one person died as a result of exposure to Thiodan in 1993. The national coffee growers and research centre in Colombia (CENICAFE) pointed out that endosulfan was much worse than the insect pest, broca which it seeks to wipe out. In Brazil, endosulfan was implicated in a number of cases of poisoning.
In Malaysia, even though endosulfan is not among the top ten insecticides sold, it was the third most important cause of pesticide poisoning in 1988. Endosulfan has been identified as a pesticide of concern due to health and environmental problems associated with its use in Ecuador, Mauritius and Paraguay. In the United States, between 1966 and 1982, endosulfan was involved in at least 113 cases of poisonings. Endosulfan users in the cotton industry in Australia were alerted a couple of years back when significant amounts of residues were found in beef. The National Registration Authority for Agricultural and Veterinary (NRA) imposed strict conditions on use of endosulfan saying that it would threaten the 'viability of Australia's international beef trade'. It had sufficient evidence that ultra low volume (ULV) formulations of endosulfan could travel several kilometres from their site of application. In fact, the environmental groups and rural communities in Australia have been warning of the dangers of endosulfan contamination.
Ineffective Pest Control
Scientific studies say that besides harming humans and bio-ecosystems, pesticides like endosulfan are becoming less effective as pests mutate quickly and become resistant. Over the last five decades, insecticide use increased ten-fold, while crop losses to insects doubled. Another important thing is that many known poisonous chemicals banned in industrial countries because of health and environmental effects are still being used in Third World countries. For example, DDT and benzene hexachloride (BHC), which were banned in the US and most of Europe and unregistered in Canada, are still used extensively in the rest of the world and account for about 75 per cent of total pesticide use in India. Present use of DDT in the Third World (to combat malaria) probably exceeded the level of its historical use.
On 23 May 2001, 122 countries adopted the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants, banning 12 of the most dangerous compounds. Most of the 12 chemicals are subject to an immediate ban. However, a health-related exemption has been granted for DDT, apparently to control malarial mosquitoes in some countries until they are able to replace DDT with chemical and non-chemical alternatives that are cost-effective and environmentally friendly. Surprisingly, endosulfan did not come under the 'dirty dozen' group on some technical grounds. However, many environmental groups alleged that this was due to the pressure exerted by the multinational pesticide companies.
Toxic Time Bomb target Third World
The pesticide menace is so frightening in many Third World countries. The FAO in its latest study says that a toxic 'time bomb' is ticking in Africa and other Third World regions, in the form of large stocks of deadly, obsolete pesticides, often stored in deteriorating conditions without adequate safeguards for people and the environment. The WHO estimates that more than 1 million people are affected by exposure to pesticides worldwide, causing 20,000 deaths annually. The problem is particularly severe in the Third World, where government regulators often fail to sustain mechanisms to handle pesticides safely and screen out substandard, banned and contaminated compounds.
The FAO and WHO estimate that as much as 30 per cent of pesticides sold annually in the Third World regions - worth $900 million roughly - fail to meet global standards. All this point to the inevitability of a global pesticide awareness to sustain the planets' precious bio-ecosystems. People across the world must shed their lingering inertia to generate new concerns for global safety that encompasses not only issues of food security, but human and environmental security as well. -keralamonitor.com
Dr. K.M.Seethi is Reader, School of International Relations, Mahatma Gandhi University, Kottayam, Kerala. He has a Doctorate in International Politics from Kerala University. Dr. Seethi is a regular contributor to leading academic journals and periodicals in English and Malayalam. He writes on socio-economic and development issues, International politics especially South Asian politics.
Reghunathan M. is a Senior Research Fellow in the School.
The authors wish to thank the Pesticide Action Network, Third World Network, the doctors and social activists of Kasargod, and officials of the Department of Agriculture, Kerala and Tamil Nadu who have responded to this study).
