Geneva, Friday 29 April 2011: Finally the call from Kasargod is heard by the world as the Stockholm convention has decided to ban endosulfan globally and agreed to list endosulfan in Annexure A with exemptions.
The efforts also assure that the Stockholm convention POP review committee will work with parties and observers to come up with alternatives.
Further it is also decided that the convention will provide financial assistance to the developing countries to replace endosulfan with alternatives, says independent observer from Kerala C Jayakumar.
India was completely isolated among other countries as when China also stood in support for conditional ban on the pesticide. Pointing at the report of Food and Agriculture Organization (FOA) that India claimed that endosulfan does not create any health problems.
But India suffered a major set back when FOA itself refuted the claims and stated that it is a hazardous pesticide.
The Contact Group is also preparing a work programme to address alternatives. India and some other nations had earlier raised issue of lack of alternatives and non-availability of technology at the convention.
New Delhi, Friday 29 April 2011: A Madhya Pradesh Minister has backed Kerala Chief Minister VS Achuthanandan’s demand for a countrywide ban on pesticide Endosulfan.
Madhya Pradesh Minister for Agriculture Dr Ramkrishna Kusmaria has also appealed to Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar to ban it across the country. In a letter to the Kerala Chief Minister, Kusmaria has thanked him for taking a ‘timely step’ and urging the Centre to ban the controversial pesticide in Kerala.
Achuthanandan’s one-day fast is a strong gesture to convey his concern, the letter says. Kusumaria’s letter also requests the Centre to ban all toxic chemicals used in farming, reminding that Madhya Pradesh witnessed a disaster when a gas leak from pesticide-making plant of Union Carbide killed thousands of people in Bhopal in December 1984.
(PTI)
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