The Supreme Court, on May 13, passed an ad-interim order to ban the manufacture, sale and use of Endosulfan with immediate effect across the country. It also issued an order for a joint committee of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and Agriculture Commissioner for a study on the health impacts of endosulfan within 8 weeks.
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Air Quality issues in Sri Lanka By Central Environmental Authority
The Clean Air and sustainable mobility programme of the Centre for Science and Environment organised the Sri Lanka Country Workshop on Air Quality and Environmentally Sustainable Transport along with the Air Resource Management Centre (Air MAC), Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Transport in Colombo.
Every Indian city, worth its salt, was known by its water body. In fact, localities were named after this wealth. It made the city, because, people understood the connection between these structures built to harvest rain and their drinking water.
Cancun euphoria fails to yield, power struggle stalls progress, US snub UNFCCC and its efforts to work out a legally binding emissions treaty Delhi, April 8: US has staged a major U-Turn in the UNFCCC climate change meeting currently underway at Bangkok, leading to a virtual stalemate in the negations which even the euphoria and collective frenzy over Cancun Agreements last year could not resurrect.
The numbers of people affected by nearly 20 years of aerial spray of Endosulfan, an organochlorine pesticide, in the cashew plantations in Kasaragod, the northern most district of Kerala is increasing. While the focus earlier was on Padre village, the health impacts are evident in people of nearly 11 panchayats in the district. Victims here are suffering from congenital deformities, physical disabilities, mental retardation and gynecological problems. The same health impacts are now being seen in the neighboring Dakshin Kanada district in Karnataka as well.
At the sixth meeting of Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) to the Stockholm Convention (Geneva Oct 11-15), India once again opposed a global ban on the manufacture, use, import and export of endosulfan. Of the 29 members in the review committee, 24 supported the ban and four (Germany, Ghana, Nigeria and China) abstained.
Endosulfan is claiming new victims, though a state government survey puts the total number of affected at just a little over 2,000 people in 11 gram panchayats of Kasaragod. Years after the pesticide was banned in Kerala, it is creeping into newer areas – a Down To Earth investigation has tracked down more cases in Muthalamada panchayat in Palakkad district, while reports are coming in of endosulfan-affected people from villages and hamlets located far away from regions where the pesticide was sprayed.
The Union environment ministry has proposed a five member expert committee to study the ill-effects of endosulfan. Union minister of state for environment, Jairam Ramesh, announced the panel after meeting Kerala forest minister Benoy Viswam on November 1.
The Endosulfan Manufactures and Formulators Welfare Association (EMFWA) have challenged the Karnataka ban on endosulfan in the Karnataka High Court. They pesticide manufacturers have said that the ban was 'unscientific' as there are no studies done in the state to prove that endosulfan was the cause of the health conditions of the people in the affected villages.
1. The recent ban on endosulfan in US