Endosulfan

Title: Endosulfan – Global Conspiracy and a Kerala Fraud Story

Author: Kalathil Ramakrishnan

Publisher: genNext Publication, 2015 (First)

ISBN: 9789380222400

Pages: 306

India had been a land of famines and food scarcity through the ages. In a country where most of the irrigation is critically dependent on monsoon rains, a miracle was put in place by the architects of the Green Revolution by introducing efficient varieties of seeds, chemical fertilizers and pesticides. It is a given that a pesticide is a toxic substance capable of wrecking immense havoc if it enters the human body. This places a restraining hand on the application of pesticides. The target area should be carefully selected and it is to be applied in strictly controlled measures in the specified dosage. The state of Kerala in south India awoke rudely in the year 2000 to allegations against a state-owned plantation as causing deleterious effects on the people living around its cashew estates in Kasargod district, where the company had been spraying endosulfan aerially for nearly two decades. The allegations looked farfetched at first, as such a wide spectrum of diseases was not reported from anywhere else in the country where aerial spray used to take place. The campaign turned vicious by demanding an outright ban on all pesticides. Public opinion also supported the activists wholeheartedly. In this atmosphere of hostile outlook against endosulfan pervading the intellectual circles in the country, India’s Supreme Court temporarily put a ban on the chemical in 2011 which is still not lifted. However, Kalathil Ramakrishnan presents the other side of the story, which he claims to be a hoax run by NGOs receiving money from EU countries which want unpatented endosulfan to be replaced by their own galaxy of patented and expensive pesticides. The book reflects the strident posture of the journalist-author in exposing the fraud involved in building up a false allegation with the enlistment of people alleged to be suffering from diseases caused by the chemical. The author is an independent journalist, who worked in the Kannur bureau of the New Indian Express newspaper from 2001 to 2012. The book is the product of his travels in the affected areas and reports on the issue in leading journals.

Plantation Corporation of Kerala (PCK) is a state government enterprise venturing into plantation crops on an industrial scale. It has many estates in different parts of the state, including a cashew plantation in the Perla village of Kasargod district of Kerala. Tea mosquito bug is the most troublesome pest as far as cashew is concerned. Around 1980, PCK stumbled upon endosulfan as a panacea for bringing the insect menace under check. With proper backup on the safety and technicality of applying the pesticide from prominent agricultural research institutes, the company began aerial spraying of endosulfan in its estates at Perla, Alakkode and Mannarkkad. Another public sector farm at Aralam also used the aerial spray method of administering the chemical. However, in the case of Perla in Kasargod, strange diseases began to be reported from the vicinity. Local activists linked the outbreak to harmful effects of endosulfan. Prominent among them were hydrocephalus (where the head grew disproportionate to body size), cerebral palsy, other neural problems, mental retardation, cancer and skin problems. When the protests grew louder, the company stopped the practice of aerial spraying in 2001, after using it continuously for about two decades. Graphic details of the pathetic lot of villagers who lived around PCK’s estates circulated far and wide in national and international media and forums. Environmental activists campaigned for an outright ban on endosulfan nationwide. India’s Supreme Court finally ordered ad-interim ban on the production and use of endosulfan in the country in 2011.

Ramakrishnan attacks the very premise that the peculiar diseases prevalent in Enmakaje and Padre are caused by the aerial spray of endosulfan. He concedes that ‘a cluster of diseases’ are present in the region, but attributes it to local factors, adverse environmental factors, anthropological reasons or genetic causes, without elaborating on any of them. He argues that the diseases were endemic to the area even before the application of endosulfan. This sounds convincing as even people with ages of 35 and above having congenital ailments are also categorized as endosulfan victims. Natives traditionally prayed in the nearby Jhadadhari shrine for healthy babies. This is construed as evidence that diseases already stalked the region. However, this logic is flawed, as people everywhere pray for healthy children irrespective of whether specific diseases are prevalent in their neighbourhood. Poverty and malnutrition are cited as possible factors too. In short, anything but endosulfan! Racial peculiarities are also alluded to, as the Koragas who are employed in basket weaving are said to have ‘migrated to India from another continent thousands of years ago’ (p.52). Their resemblance to African cousins is attributed by the author to contribute to the occurrence of exotic diseases. A migration that might have occurred in the Late Paleolithic period is claimed by him to have taken place ‘a few’ thousands of years ago.

The book reserves its invective for the studies conducted by NIOH, Kozhikode Medical College, CWRDM and CSE. Out of these, the one done by the Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) at Delhi may be doubtful, as the organization is notorious for its vigilantism on environment. But the others are government organizations and the author’s tirade against their study reports is more gas than having any substance. He alleges that the government is wasting money in the form of salary, traveling allowance and vehicle expenses in conducting these studies. Inconsistencies occur in the multifaceted attack on the results obtained. The Medical College study examined blood plasma of 43 peoples at SACON lab, Coimbatore. Endosulfan residues were reported to be in the range from 2.5 per cent to 170.4 on page 152 and from 2.5 ppb to 170.4 ppb on page 232. This is surely a typo, but it is a representative sample of the lack of care and rigour gone into the publishing of the book. Disability census data is cleverly compared district-wise to other districts in Kerala to obtain the result that Kasargod is not prone to diseases that are attributed to the pesticide. But nobody had claimed that the district as a whole was affected. If the author had compared specific divisions or villages against similar entities in other districts, some more useful conclusions would have emerged. However, Ramakrishnan brings out the level of social isolation faced by the victims. People from outside the sprayed areas are denying marriage and social interaction with the victims. As the land is thought to be leeched with pesticide, land sharks are having a good time in accumulating sizeable chunks at throwaway prices. The most heartbreaking argument is that the families of children with disabilities found it to be a bonanza and an excuse for the parent not to go for work to earn their livelihood. They are said to be lazy (p.177), feeding on the pensions of their unlucky children afflicted with strange diseases. Barring a few occurrences that may fit this description, this situation can’t be generalized as the pension is a paltry Rs. 2000 ($ 35) per child per month!

So, why does the author believes the whole story to be bogus, and fabricated to delude the world? The only reason he can think of is that endosulfan is a generic pesticide that is not patented. India was the largest exporter of the chemical. It is not used in the European Union (EU) and their companies have patented and expensive pesticides in their product range which they want to thrust upon the developing world. In order to achieve this hidden objective, endosulfan needed to be rooted out. This goal of the EU is being put into practice by NGOs, unsuspecting politicians and environmental activists The Stockholm Convention on persisting organo-chemicals recommended against its use, which the author claims to be not as per procedure. Such decisions are to be taken by consensus alone, but if India and China are opposed to the move, how can an international body reach a unanimous decision? The outcome has to be reached by majority voting, which they employed in this case as well.

The book presents a nice argument on the priorities of new-generation media in Kerala, which is hell bent on appropriating a slice of the cake of viewership. The sharp criticism should serve as an eye-opener. Kerala’s society forms its opinion on the basis of media reports. The agricultural climate has been so skewed that any kind of pesticide is treated with contempt and utmost suspicion. We forget that pesticides and chemical fertilizers are essential to guarantee food security to the world’s second most populous nation. Italy temporarily lifted its ban on endosulfan in 2008 to address the serious issue of pests that suddenly appeared on its hazelnut crop. It is true that the hue and cry against endosulfan is caused mainly by emotional appraisal of the issue when the public see pitiable pictures of children suffering silently in misery. It is also conceivable that a good many people who had contracted diseases through means other than contact with endosulfan is included in the list of beneficiaries for welfare schemes. If the author is to be believed, even people suffering from piles, cirrhosis of lever due to excess consumption of alcohol and those who were incapacitated by falling in disused wells, have been considered as victims. But now is the time to recall Blackstone’s famous adage that ‘it is better to let ten guilty persons escape than that one innocent suffer’. Whatever we may say or do should not serve to deny much needed help – however meager it may be – to the sick children, whether due to endosulfan or not.

The book is brought out with very little attention to proof reading. The publisher is sure to blame. Examples abound in the book, but instances like ‘happeneded’ on p.83, ‘stink operation’ in place of ‘sting operation’ on p.160 and ‘Environmental Pollution Agency’ in lieu of ‘Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)’ on p.135 are real monsters. Most of the ideas are repeated in several chapters, thereby causing monotony to readers. Each chapter may be read independently of the others – such is the scale of recapitulations. The book includes a useful index, but a chronology of events related to the whole episode would have been helpful. A brief history of the invention of endosulfan and its widespread use would have added interest to the text. Statistical tables of diseases with comparison to similar regions would buttress the author’s claims.

The book is highly recommended to those who want to hear the other side of the story.

Rating: 2 Star