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Punjab, popularly known as the Food Bowl of the country, is often called as a little big state of India. Little considering, the state occupies only 1.5 per cent of the geographical area of the country, but accounts for about two-third of the food grains procured annually in the country (hence it is big). In addition, over 95 per cent of the food grains that are moved interstate to feed deficit areas through the public distribution system are the stocks procured from Punjab. According to one estimate, 75-80 percent of wheat going to Central Pool every year comes from Punjab and Haryana.
Interestingly, Punjab undertakes agriculture activity throughout the year with varied crop rotations. Agriculture still contributes about 24% to state's GDP – much higher than national average of 15%.
The state has been able to achieve this agricultural growth mainly due to adoption of modern farming techniques and optimum utilisation of farm inputs such as fertilisers and crop protection chemicals.
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However, some environmental activists belittle this agricultural feat by claiming that increasing usage of modern farming techniques (read: crop protection chemicals) have led to environmental degradation and are also reasons for rise in cancer patients in the state.
Following this, government of Punjab launched a massive house to house survey in 2012 - covering 26,891,585 persons in 5,138,521 households - to really assess the cancer rate. This survey brought out the true picture (Refer Table).
Table: Cancer in Punjab: The true picture
| Cancer rate | Punjab | India | World | USA | Singapore |
| Incidence* | 88 | 99 | 180 | 300 | 196 |
| Prevalence** | 211 | 211 | 585 | 1692 | 776 |
*Incidence rate: Live cancer cases per 1 lakh population in past 5 years
**Prevalence rate: Live cases plus cancer deaths per 1 lakh population in past 5 years
Table shows that cancer rate in Punjab is actually far below both the national and global levels. Interestingly, Singapore, which has no agriculture, shows far higher cancer rates than Punjab. This clearly proves that incidences of cancer cases are not linked to pesticides or other crop protection chemicals, but are more likely result of modern life style. It must be noted that there is not a single pesticide listed in the Group 1 list maintained by International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), a body of World Health Organization (WHO). The Group 1 carcinogen list contains those substances that are confirmed to be human carcinogens.
“Widespread and unchecked disinformation about pesticides misguide the general public as well as legal, policy and regulatory affairs in India. Behind every disinformation campaign against pesticides, there is a foreign funded activist NGO,” claims Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI).
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Cancer can cause due to multiple factors. According to epidemiological studies of the survey, 80-90% of all cancers are due to environmental factors of which, lifestyle related factors (tobacco, alcohol, dietary factors, customs, habits & life styles, etc) are the most important and preventable. Hence, linking crop protection chemicals to be the only reasons for cancer is highly unscientific and misguides the people.
“Science fraud involving pesticides (and subsequent disinformation) is indeed a criminal offence. We need a separate statutory body to monitor, probe and punish scientific frauds in our country. Most countries including USA, EU, China, etc have such statutory body,” states CCFI.
