by Centre for Sustainable Agriculture

Hyderabad--Responding to a complaint made by Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu and Ms Kavitha Kuruganti of Centre for Sustainable Agriculture, the National Human Rights Commission sent a Notice to the Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh on the issue of pesticide poisoning. The Notice calls for the government to respond with a detailed report within 4 weeks failing which the Commission may proceed to take such action as it deems proper.

The complaint by Centre for Sustainable Agriculture alleged that the Right to Life of agricultural workers and farmers is being threatened due to chemical pesticides and requested the intervention of the NHRC. CSA, along with a Warangal-based organization called MARI has documented acute poisoning of agricultural workers, including some fatal cases from six hospitals of Warangal district in Andhra Pradesh in 2004. Based on this and based on data generated by other organizations too, CSA approached the NHRC on this matter.

“It is estimated that every day, 68000 farmers and workers are poisoned by pesticides world over. Majority of these cases are in developing countries like India. Our study of just six hospitals during the peak spraying season in Warangal district during Kharif 2004 showed more than 200 cases of pesticide poisoning which are due to inhalation during spraying. Out of this, we had also come across cases of death due to inhalation of extremely toxic fumes”, said Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu, Executive Director of CSA.

In India, many pesticides which have been banned in other countries continue to be produced and used in large volumes. These include the WHO-classified Class Ia (Extremely Hazardous) and Class Ib (Highly Hazardous) pesticides like methyl-parathion, edifenphos, triazophos, monocrotophos, oxydemeton-methyl etc. Ironically, some large multinational companies like Bayer and Syngenta which have stopped producing and marketing these pesticides in the developed world, continue to make profits on these pesticides here in India.

Ms Kavitha Kuruganti, Researcher, CSA said, “The blame for pesticide poisoning is often put on the poor victims of such poisoning. However, our documentation and the subsequent public hearing showed us clearly that the aggressive marketing of pesticides coupled with our tropical weather conditions, social situation of agricultural workers, their literacy and poverty levels and so on do not allow for safe use of pesticides. Compounding this situation is the fact that we still have extremely toxic pesticides being sold here”.

CSA’s petition to the NHRC points out that widows of pesticide poisoning victims as well as surviving victims do not get any support from the government for their medical and economic rehabilitation. Pesticide poisoning deaths are not considered as accidental deaths and therefore, are not considered for insurance support under programmes like Apathbandhu. Further, there are no curbs by the government on the industry’s aggressive marketing practices nor does the government pro-actively carry out a massive education programme on the ill-effects of pesticides. CSA pointed out that even a simple mechanism like pesticide poisoning surveillance systems are not being put in place by the government to get a better assessment of the picture.

The petition also calls upon NHRC to fix liability on the pesticide industry and the concerned government departments for the damage caused so far.

For more information, please contact:

1. Ms Kavitha Kuruganti, CSA at +91-9393001550 or kavitha_kuruganti@yahoo.com

2. Dr G V Ramanjaneyulu, CSA at +91-9391359702 or ramoo@csa-india.org

ps: The CSA and MARI reports on the subject available at the following links:

http://www.csa-india.org/downloads/Pesticides/Killing%20and%20Maiming%20Insects%20or%20Humans.pdf

http://www.csa-india.org/downloads/Pesticides/Pesticide%20poisoning%20public%20hearing-proceedings%20rpt.pdf