EU, Endosulfan and Stockholm Convention

European Union calls for ban on endosulfan, solely on the basis on trade interests rather
than scientific truth, citing health hazards.
Those sneaky imperialists

Today, at a press briefing in Chennai, Pesticide Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India (PFMAI) alleged that European Union (EU), the lead proponent for calling a blanket ban on the supposedly harmful endosulfan pesticide which is blamed for health effects or 'endosulfan poisoning' in Karsargod, Kerala is actually driven by trade interests!

Firstly, this claim coming from a manufacturers association seems to be a little difficult to digest at the first go. But what surprises us the most that the most 'elementary truth' has to be 'spelled out' for everyone, including the media.

Hasn't EU been doing this for ages! If you look at the facts, European Union (EU) is the largest stakeholder in the global pesticide. Also, EU's posturing and arm-twisting policies against the manufacturing of 'generic' drugs, the back bone of India Pharmaceutical Industry, is well documented.

So it does not surprise us that EU will go to any length to protect their precious money churning patented pesticides by calling for a worldwide ban on endosulfan at the most sacrosanct of global gatherings, the Stockholm Covention.

There is a move to label endosulfan as a Persistent Organic Pollutant (POP) chemical at the Stockholm Convention. And guess what, if endosulfan is banned the farmer in India may be left with no choice but to purchase replacement products which are 10 times more costlier, not proven to be a safe alternative to endosulfan and are patented by private European manufacturers.

If tomorrow European Union decides that it does not wish to manufacture or export the 'replacement pesticide' to India, what is the Indian farmer going to do? EU has managed to sabotage it's own food security by extreme protectionism, is India to suffer the same fate? How do the organic farming proponents plan to feed a billion Indian mouths without endosulfan? Does the common man have to suffer as commodity prices sky rocket to astronomical prices? Does the Indian farmer in Vidarbha, Maharashtra & Andhra Pradesh suffer the same "suicidal' fate that the current local agricultural economy has failed to curb?    

The funniest part is, European Union (EU) is not even a heavy user of endosulfan, as the insecticide is most efficient in temperate climate zones such as India, Brazil, Argentina (Latin America), Africa, China, South Asian countries and so on, where incidentally endosulfan has been used for decades and is still not banned due to its efficacy being soft on pollinators like honey bees.

A skeptical eye may be able to see clearly through the lies propagated by vested interests and read through the underlying economic imperialist agenda. We all, citizens of India, have been hoodwinked by distorted reality and misinformation campaign undertaken to deprive the Indian farmer his right to livelihood, liberty, justice and freedom of choice.

For our previous post on Media Lies and Victims of Endosulfan read  European Union's agenda read:
Endosulfan poisoning victims: Different numbers, similar lies?

Endosulfan usage in India: map with statistics

Endosulfan usage in India as per survey conducted in the year 2007

Voice of Keralam has obtained a copy of a map which shows Endosulfan usage distribution in India in the year 2007.

As observed in the map, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and part of West Bengal use more than 1000 kilolitres of Endosulfan. Also, states such as Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Chandigarh, Uttaranchal, Tamil Nadu, and Haryana amongst others use 500-100 Kilolitres of Endosulfan. 
 

This clearly shows Endosulfan usage in India is spread across various geographical areas of the country. However, the victims reported have been largely in the state of Kerala, which has virtually no Endosulfan usage across the state. This leaves a lot unanswered in term of the current debate on the insecticide and poses difficult questions to those who have called for a blanket ban of the molecule across the country and the world. 

What do you feel about these findings?  Do you think there is more to the “endosulfan poising’ story in India?

Endosulfan poisoning: The other side of the story

The controversial pesticide Endosulfan, which is allegedly the cause for diseases and deformity is being widely debated online. While a lot needs to be understood about the subject, in terms of scientific facts and rationale, armchair critics have found a convenient way to rile up the masses based on media reports on the issue.

To every story, there is always an other side, which Voice Of  Keralam hopes to bring to the forefront, so people can take an objective decision before making any judgment based on popular opinion.

During such a quest to unearth the truth and alternate voices in the system we came across the following revelation, which was quite shocking to us. Please observe the screen-grabs from Google Search Index to see for yourself.

Google search for Endosulfan workers rally in Bhavnagar held on November 17, 2010 in Gujarat. You can see the Manorama Online story featured on page one of search results. 

Stories on Endosulfan workers from Bhavnagar demanding a withdrawal of the 'fraudulent' NIOH report can be seen here [Link] 

 

When you click on the link to Manorama Online to view the story, the following 'error' is displayed.

The screen reads "we are sorry the page you are currently viewing is unavailable due to technical problems"

And, here's the original screen-grab of the story retrieved from Google cache pages 

  The actual story  as posted on Manorama Online about the Bhavnagar Rally help in Gujarat to oppose ban of Endosulfan and demand withdrawal of NOIH report. 

Why an esteemed newspaper like Manorama Online which is held in high esteem across the world for its news content and objective journalism, feel the need to specifically remove a story from their online edition, is anybody's educated guess! 

May be it truly is a technical error, so one would like to believe...