- The Supreme Court has slammed the Kerala government for doing “virtually nothing” for Endosulfan pesticide exposure victims.
- The court said the State’s inaction was “appalling” and amounted to a breach of the apex court’s 2017 judgment, which had ordered the State to pay Rs 5 lakh each to the victims in three months.
- Five years since the judgment, the court has realised that only eight out of 3,704 victims have been paid compensation.
- The SC has banned the manufacture, sale, use, and export of endosulfan throughout the country, citing its harmful health effects in 2015.
Endosulfan
- Endosulfan is an organochlorine insecticide which was first introduced in the 1950s and is commonly known by its trade name Thiodan.
- It is linked to a slew of grave medical conditions, such as neurotoxicity, physical deformities, poisoning and more.
- It is sprayed on crops like cotton, cashew, fruits, tea, paddy, tobacco etc. for control of pests such as whiteflies, aphids, beetles, worms etc.
- Endosulfan is listed under both the Rotterdam Convention on the Prior Informed Consent and the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
Impacts of Endosulfan
- Endosulfan in the environment gets accumulated in food chains leading to higher doses causing problems.
- If Endosulfan is released to water, it is expected to absorb to the sediment and may bioconcentrate in aquatic organisms.
- The endosulfan ingestion results in diseases ranging from physical deformities, cancer, birth disorders and damage to the brain and nervous system.
Rotterdam convention 1998
- The convention aims to promote cooperation and responsibility sharing measures amongst different countries dealing with trade in hazardous chemicals and pesticides.
- PIC, Prior Informed Consent is the main feature of the convention and is legally binding on the party members.
- PIC facilitates information exchange about nature and trade-related information amongst the party members.
- The Convention creates obligations for the implementation of the Prior Informed Consent (PIC) procedure.
SOURCE: THE HINDU,THE ECONOMIC TIMES,MINT