Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Ministry announces sale of non-permissible pesticides

The Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Ministry seems to have hatched a sinister plot to commit the very crime that it is supposed to check. Last month, agriculture officials announced the sale of non-permissible time-barred chemical pesticides valued at Rs 35 lakh, stockpiled in government godowns.If the auction sales go through as planned by mid-April and the chemicals, whose shelf life has expired, are sold to farmers, the results could be catastrophic. Some pesticides turn into highly toxic substances following decomposition. "It is a horrifying prospect, and can prove fatal," warns a pesticide analyst about the Government's plan to sell the outdated chemicals.The sale is a deliberate violation of the Insecticides Act and is being gone through in spite of the risks involved. There are attempts to suppress exposure by environmentalists. Early announcements clearly mentioned that the pesticides were time-barred but later notices did not carry the description, apparently at the behest of officials wary of the legal and environmental implications of such a sale.Among the chemicals for sale in Andhra Pradesh are endrine and lead arsenate, which are among the 20 pesticides banned in the country. Chemicals like malathion, on expiry of their shelf life - especially when stored at relatively high temperatures - convert into poisonous substances like iso-malathion. Agriculture officials contacted by India Today evaded comment. But an official in charge of prosecutions for violation of the Insecticides Act argued: "The sale of time-barred pesticides is not unlawful as it is being sold by auction only to manufacturers for retoning and resale."Paradox: However, the-tender notices do not specify that the auction is open only to pesticide manufacturers and the experts argue that "retoning" of chemicals cannot be done. Whether officials have struck a deal for the resale of the pesticides under the same or fresh labels is not clear.Some time ago the Andhra Pradesh agriculture department fought a long drawn out legal battle with several pesticide firms - which it ultimately won - after it had a dealer and manufacturer prosecuted for selling a chemical pesticide under a false label.Now the Agriculture Ministry itself is paradoxically abetting a similar sale. Sources said that apart from the time-barred chemicals valued at Rs 35 lakh now on sale, the Agriculture Ministry has another stock of outdated chemicals valued at Rs 25 lakh.It is sometimes argued that the hazards of chemical pesticides are confined to accidental cases where necessary precautions are not taken. The Insecticides Act dates back to 1968. It was necessitated when about 100 persons died in Kerala after eating imported wheat contaminated by a mis-labelled consignment of parathion in a ship's hold.Then a 17-member committee led by M.S. Thacker drafted the law to regulate the import, manufacture, sale, transport, distribution and use of insecticides "with a view to prevent risk to human beings or animals and for matters connected therewith".The states have been provided powers to launch prosecution against erring manufacturing units and dealers if the prescribed quality and efficacy are not maintained and the chemicals pose a hazard to the ecosystem.There are at least two major instances of pesticide poisoning since the Insecticides Act came into being. One led to an outbreak of epilepsy among 150 persons in the Sitapur, Lakhimpur Kheri and Hardoi districts of Uttar Pradesh in 1977-78 when wheat accidentally mixed with gammexane was consumed. Another instance reported about the same time, was the Handigodu syndrome among villagers in the Shimoga and Chik-magalur districts of Karnataka. The Harijans who ate crabs caught in the paddies, treated with pesticides, found their arthritis aggravated. The crab is known to retain large quantities of pesticides in its system.Toxic Effects: Such accidents occur because of the indifferent manner in which pesticides are used. Individual instances of poisoning are rarely reported, for tracing it to a pesticide is a long process. Sometimes the toxic effects are delayed.And in cases where one or two die, the chances of discovery of accidental pesticide poisoning are remote, particularly in the countryside, as sentiments override a scientific postmortem examination.So many cases go unrecorded, to lend credence to the argument that pesticide poisoning is rare. But as one toxicologist explained: "The absence of short-term effects in humans is no guarantee of long-term safety."The screening of foodstuff in different parts of the country suggests an alarming increase in pesticide contamination. Pesticides are sprayed to give vegetables and fruits a "fresh look" during harvest.Farmers in several parts of the country, either due to ignorance or because of lack of storage facilities, find it convenient to mix cheap but poisonous chemical pesticides with food-grains.Damage: Surveys made by the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, Delhi, show that pesticide residues in vegetables coming to Delhi markets are about 20 times more than the permissible limits. Scientists of the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow, have detected abnormally high pesticide residues in unborn babies and mothers' milk.Mental and neurological changes, cancer, lung infections, liver damages, changes in blood and bone marrow, eye lesions and rapid ageing are some of the delayed effects of imperceptible pesticide poisoning. But the exact manner in which these chemicals affect health is yet to be fully understood.The states have a long way to go to fully develop pesticide analysis laboratories to probe pesticide poisoning. Even the Centre's own laboratory is yet to be developed along scientific lines.The use of pesticides in agriculture is unavoidable. Every year the country loses 20 per cent of farm produce, valued at about Rs 1,000 crore at current prices, to pests. The use of pesticides, too, has risen sharply from a mere 15.9 gms in 1960-61 to 330 gms per hectare at present. This is relatively low when compared to 2,500 gms a hectare in USA and 1,490 gms in Japan.But that does not mean that the dangers to life are any less in India. And when a state government brazenly auctions stocks of pesticides that should have been disposed off long ago, it is certainly time to raise an alarm.Published By: AtMigration Published On: Nov 23, 2013 11:16 IST--- ENDS ---

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Andhra Pradesh Agriculture Ministry announces sale of non-permissible pesticides

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