Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday assured an all-party
delegation from Kerala, led by its Health and Social Welfare Minister
P.K. Sreemathy, that the Centre would await the report of the Indian
Council for Medical Research (ICMR) before deciding further on the
request to ban Endosulfan nationwide.
He reminded the delegates that the Kerala government had already
banned the pesticide in 2005. Dr. Singh said during his next visit to
Kerala, he would visit Kasaragod district to see and interact with the
victims suspected to be affected by the use of the pesticide in cashew
plantations.
Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam
Ramesh said that Endosulfan would be banned if its adverse effect on
health was proved.
“If there is evidence to show that it has all-India health effects,
we will ban it at the national level.” However Mr. Ramesh claimed that
Endosulfan was a broad spectrum pesticide and there were no other
cost-effective alternatives to it as yet. He knew about the disaster in
Kasaragod and had asked for more evidence. “Some people say there are
other districts in Karnataka, which have also been affected. I am very
sensitive to this issue,” he said.
Ms. Sreemathy, justifying the need for banning Endosulfan at the
all-India level, told journalists that the delegation pointed out to the
Prime Minister that there was enough evidence from the experience of
Kasaragod to prove that the pesticide would cause irreparable damage to
the environment and human beings exposed to it. An earlier study of the
ICMR had proved this and “we strongly believe that there is no need for
dragging on the matter in the name of further study.”
Eighty-one countries had either banned Endosulfan or decided to phase
out its use. The delegation wanted Dr. Singh to give appropriate
instructions so that India took a strong stand against Endosulfan and
sought its ban during the April 25 discussion on Stockholm convention on
the use of persistent organic pollutants to be held in Geneva.
“During the last round of discussions, India had taken a stand
against the ban on Endosulfan, which had caused widespread anger and
criticism in India, especially among victims in Kerala who are fighting
for their rights and rehabilitation,” she said.
The 13-member delegation comprised Kerala Water Resources Minister
N.K. Premachandran, Devaswom Minister Kadannapally Ramachandran, Forests
and Housing Minister Benoy Viswom and Transport Minister Jose
Thettayil; C.T. Ahamed Ali and A.K. Saseendran (IUML); Thalekunnil
Basheer (Congress); P.C. Thomas (Kerala Congress-AMG); V. Muraleedharan
(BJP), Joy Abraham (Kerala Congress M), A.N. Rajan Babu (JSS) and Dr.
Varghese George (Socialist Janata (Democratic). LDF MPs from Kerala will
stage a dharna in Parliament complex on April 26 seeking a ban on
Endosulfan and later present a memorandum to Dr. Singh.
