ENDOSULFAN STORY – GUJARAT AND PUBLIC HEALTH ANGLE
Reports of unusual diseases in certain
villages of Kasargod district of Northern Kerala allegedly caused by spray of a
pesticide, endosulfan, over the cashew plantations came into limelight in 2001.
In a response to this, ICMR directed NIOH, Ahmedabad to conduct series of
scientific investigations in to the matter. The NIOH study had following
observations, apart from others:
-
Review of published report had following
observations
o
Cases of illnesses such as disorders of the
central nervous system - cerebral palsy, retardation of mental and/or physical
growth, epilepsy among the children – and congenital anomalies like stag horn
limbs have been reported.
o
There are also reports of cancer of the liver
and blood; infertility and undescended testis among males; miscarriages and
hormonal irregularities among women; skin disorders; and asthma, psychiatric
problems and suicidal tendencies the villages nearby cashew plantations.
-
It cited two contradictory findings from two
separate studies
o
FIPPAT
study : There are no residues of Endosulfan in any of the blood samples,
cow milk and water samples. However, some residue of Endosulfan was detected in
soil and leaf samples.
o
CEE study: Very high levels of Endosulfan were
reported in samples of human blood, human milk, vegetables, spices, cow’s milk,
animal tissues, cashew, cashew leaves and soil.
-
It’s own findings from a study conducted in
2001 had following observations
o
There is significantly higher prevalence of
neurobehavioural disorders, congenital malformations in female subjects and
abnormalities related to male reproductive system in the study group (Padre
village, Enmakaje Panchayat) as compared to the reference group (Miyapavadu
village of Meenja Panchayat).
o
There is a close similarity between the
spectrum of health effects observed in the study population and those described
in animal experiments. This supports the hypothesis of endosulfan as a ausative
factor fond the endpoints observed in the study.
The study proposed following
recommendations
-
The possibility of endocrine disrupting effect
of endosulfan observed in the study has great relevance to the health of the
future generations. Considering the potentiality of grave consequences, the
Principle 15 of the Rio - Declaration of the Earth Summit should be followed.
This relates to the precautionary principle and emphasizes that lack of
scientific certainty is no reason to postpone action to avoid potentially
serious or irreversible harm to the environment.
-
High exposure groups such as workers engaged
in formulations, application and manufacturing of endosulfan and areas with
high usage of endosulfan should be studied to determine the long term health
effects of the compound.
(NIOH study on endosulfan titled, “Final
Report of the Investigations of Unusual Illnesses Allegedly Produced by
Endosulfan Exposure in Padre Village of Kasargod district (N. Kerala)”.
-http://www.thehindu.com/multimedia/archive/00556/_Final_report_of_th_556518a.pdf)
Following this report and related
protests, Karnataka and Kerala has banned sale and use of Endosulfan. There
were demands from various section of society for a nation-wide ban.
Gujarat has peculiar relevance in this
discourse as two of the three endosulfan manufacturing plants of India
including Excel Crop Care (Bhavnagar) are in Gujarat. Bhavnagar witnessed a
rally of few thousand people – largely attended by the workers of Excel Crop
Care – opposing ban on the Endosulfan. This was supported by both local MLA and
MP, who submitted a memorandum around this issue to the district
collector. The MP also has officially
written to the prime minister with a request to withdraw the said NIOH study.
In response to this, a committee was
set-up by Health department of Gujarat in 2010. In its final report this
committee in a way gave ‘clean chit’ to Endosulfan in May 2011. It specifically
recommend following:
This report indicates that ‘A thorough
analysis of the NIOH report and reviews revealed that it suffers from:
I.
Serious design flaws.
II.
Selection bias.
III.
Selective and inadequate presentation of data.
IV.
Selective suppression of facts
V.
Invalid assumptions/findings that lack the
logic of science
It further concludes that NIOH
report on Endosulfan is thus incorrect and misleading and should be considered
invalid. The conclusions of the NIOH study cannot be used to determine that
exposure to endosulfan can cause health problems.
To counter
the NIOH report, the committee relies on a study titled “Evaluation of
Residues of Endosulfan in Human Blood Samples collected from the persons of
Mengani and Hadmadia villages, Gondal Dist. Rajkot”. This study evaluated
residues of the pesticide in blood samples of farmers in two villages of Rajkot
and found no residues of Endosulfan. Interestingly, this study was done by Samvardhan Trust and NGO based in Bhavnagar
in collaboration with IIBAT (International Institute of Biotechnology and
Toxicology). This IIBAT is in fact the
same institute that was earlier known as FIPPAT, which conducted similar study
in Kerala and found no residues, as mentioned earlier. It was also later on alleged that the FIPPAT
report of 2001 miscalculated and suppressed the facts (http://www.downtoearth.org.in/node/11070).
It is in this light the validity of samvarshan trust needs to be weighed.
This committee concludes that there
are no health problems that can be associated to the exposure to endosulfan and
is satisfied that there are no occupational health or safety issues arising out
of exposure to endosulfan. This committee recommends the
continued manufacture, use and trade in Endosulfan active and its various
formulations
Stockholm Convention on Persistent
Organic Pollutants is an international environmental treaty, signed in 2001 and
effective from May 2004, that aims to eliminate or restrict the production and
use of persistent organic pollutants (POPs). Immediately after the release of Gujarat
study, At the fifth meeting that was held from 25 to 29 May 2011, the
Conference of the Parties adopted an amendment to Annex A to the Stockholm
Convention and Endosulfan has been recognized as a persistent organic
pollutant. India has consistently been opposing the move. However, it has agreed to phase-out the
chemical in 11 years, bowing to global pressure.
On May 13 2011, the Supreme Court had
issued the ad-interim order banning the production, use and sale of Endosulfan
all over India for eight weeks with immediate effect till a joint committee
conducted a scientific study and submitted its report. Excel Crop Care Ltd has also
suspended the production and sales of Endosulfan in compliance with the Supreme
Court orders.
Issues
- It is indeed interesting to note two drastically
different findings coming from Gujarat, one from NIOH, Ahmedabad and another
from a committee constituted by the health department - While both of them back their proposition with
‘scientific research’, they contradict each other too. - Good research or bad research can be judged
based on how it was conducted. However, quality of research should also have a
component of ‘motive of research’. - Can we as a public health institute, which is
based in Gujarat, take this issue up and conduct a by and large non-partisan
research to generate/substantiate the findings?
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