The ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) of Kerala today said it would observe a one-day hartal on April 29 in protest againstt the central government's stand favouring Endosulfan at the fifth meeting of the Stockholm convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants being held in Geneva. The front also decided to go on with various agitation programmes demanding a nationwide ban on the use and production of Endosulfan.
Earlier, as a mark of protest, leaders of various political parties including the state chief minister VS Achuthanandan fasted for a day on Monday. This evoked immense response from the people as Kerala is suffering the most because of the use of the toxic pesticide. Unofficial reports claim that around 1,100 people died in the last decade in Kasargode district and hundreds of people are suffering from various illness due to the widespread use of Endosulfan in the cashew plantations in 11 villages of the district.
At the Asia-Pacific regional meeting of the convention on Monday, India was against a worldwide ban on the pesticide. India defended the use of Endosulfan as it was not scientifically proved that it is toxic to human beings. India is also not in favour of a voting to decide the issue of banning Endosulfan, opted instead for a consensus among the member nations.
The Prime Minister said that the government would await the report of 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.
In Kerala, protest marches are going on in various parts of the state and effigies of Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar and Environment minister Jairam Ramesh were ignited at various places. The state leadership of the Congress is now in a defensive mode as the people of Kerala are for a complete ban. Though the PCC leadership is with the agitations, it is not easy for them to advocate the Center's stand on the issue publicly. The Left Front, especially the chief minister is now gaining maximum mileage on the issue by augmenting protest progrmmes.
Pawar favours further studies on the health hazards on the use of the pesticide as serious casualties were found in Kerala and Karnataka only. So far Kerala has banned the use of Endosulfan. But this is not effective as smuggling is active from the neighboring Tamil Nadu. Though there is ban in Kerala, this is being widely used in cardamom plantations of Idukki district and for various crops in districts like Palakkad. So the state is demanding a blanket ban on the pesticide.
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A study of the experts from Kozhikode Medical College found out traces of Endosulfan in the blood samples of villagers of Kasargode even after 12 years of its use. It also found various serious problems to the reproductive system of men and women in the affected villages. Also, 10-15 per cent of the new born babies are found with various physical disabilities.
The report submitted by the Community Medicine department of the college said that Endosulfan had caused serious health hazards to the people in the affected areas. The study confirmed the presence of Alpha-Beta Endosulfan and Endosulfan sulfate in sample blood. Out of more than 10,000 blood samples collected from 11 villages, 41 blood samples were sent to Dr Salim Ali Centre in Coimbatore for a comparative study of the samples.