End-o-Sulfan?

Endosulfan: never heard of it? But it could land up inside you,and then what? BTW, India produces the most, and it's banned in over 60 countries!

2008: After almost 10 years of environmental damage and a large number of deaths among cotton growing communities, the infamous insecticide endosulfan is finally on its way out from West Africa. On 16th February, 2008, the government of Benin, one of the 3 largest cotton producers in the region, announced that the chemical would be banned after the existing stocks are used up.

This decision was the result of a recommendation from the region's pest management experts who  finally recognised the unacceptable hazards of endosulfan, and paves the way to a probable phase out in most West African cotton producing countries - Mali, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast are committed to phasing the insecticide out by the end of the 2008/9 growing season

In 2007, the USA: The EPA's own studies concluded that even with the best available technology, people applying endosulfan are exposed to unacceptable risks. "It is time for the EPA to take the health of communities seriously and get this dangerous chemical out of the US agriculture", said campaign's coordinator Medha Chandra from PAN North America. The result, was that in 2007, the manufacturer, Bayer, withdrew it from the US market, but continued to sell it abroad.

Incredible India:
Such a move is unlikely to happen in India, a country where cotton farmers continue to use highly hazardous pesticides with completely inadequate protective equipment.

But the real reason is India's powerful Pesticide lobby.

Imagine, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, in response to a global campaign against Endosulfan, says it will not be banned in India.Kerala banned endosulfan in 2001, after pictures of physically and mentally handicapped children schocked the world - in Kasargod, endosulfan was sprayed on cashew crops.

Iy's banned in more than 60 countries, but India is the world's largest producer of endosulfan. It is used widely in cotton fields.
 
Endosulfan, says the lobby, is less toxic for bees, and therefore 'protects the flora and fauna of India'. Comments, anyone?