Forgiftningssager gør Indiens forsøg på at blive et globalt knudepunkt for pesticider

Indien byder på at øge produktionen, brug og eksport af pesticider. Imidlertid, den skal også forholde sig til det dystre faktum, at det årlige gennemsnit af dødelige pesticidforgiftninger i landet er ikke færre end 30, 000 og kunne se en stigning, hvis regeringen skubber igennem med planen uden strammere regulering.

Pesticidindustriens nye skub kan ses i et dokument, udgivet sidste år af den indflydelsesrige Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), der taler om det "enorme urealiserede vækstpotentiale" i den landbrugskemiske industri og opfordrer til "passende støtte via regeringens politikker."

FICCI-rapporten henviser til nylige "investeringer, fusioner og opkøb ", der har hjulpet indiske virksomheder med at" reducere F &U -omkostninger og udviklingstid "til at blive internationalt konkurrencedygtige. Det siger, at mens 50 procent af produktionen allerede eksporteres, der er et "potentiale for yderligere stigning i eksporten."

Ifølge FICCI -fremskrivninger, Indiens pesticidindustri vil producere tæt på 1,5 millioner tons årligt inden 2022, da landet har "kapacitet til lavprisfremstilling, tilgængelighed af teknisk uddannet arbejdskraft, bedre prisrealisering globalt og stærk tilstedeværelse i fremstilling af generiske pesticider."

"Vi er opmærksomme på planen om at liberalisere pesticidfremstillingen med det formål at gøre Indien til et knudepunkt for avancerede tekniske pesticider beregnet til eksport, " siger Narasimha Reddy, direktør for non-profit Pesticide Action Network (PAN) Indien. "Men, vi mener, at der bør gives førsteprioritet i enhver lovgivning til at håndtere det uacceptabelt store antal pesticidforgiftninger, hvad enten det er ved et uheld eller selvmord."

National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB) i politiafdelingen registrerede 133, 623 selvmord i 2015, heraf 23, 930 blev begået ved at sluge pesticider. I det år, der var også 7, 000 dødsfald som følge af utilsigtede pesticidforgiftninger.

Med en opadgående tendens i landmænds selvmord viser sig at være pinligt for regeringen, NCRB holdt op med at frigive detaljer om metoder, der blev brugt af landmænd til at begå selvmord efter 2015. Men NCRB-registreringer for 1995-2015 viser, at i alt 441, 918 pesticidselvmord blev registreret i Indien i løbet af disse to årtier - et årligt gennemsnit på 22, 095.

Chandra Bhushan, vicegeneraldirektør for Center for Videnskab og Miljø (CSE), en førende non-profit-baseret Delhi, bebrejder lemfældig regulering fra det centrale landbrugsministerium og de provinsielle landbrugsafdelinger for de 10, 000-tusinde tilfælde af utilsigtet pesticidforgiftning, der rapporteres årligt i gennemsnit. "Pesticid-relaterede dødsfald og kvæstelser kan helt sikkert undgås ved bedre regulering og håndhævelse, " han siger.

Ny regning for pesticider

Strammere regulering er på vej gennem lov om håndtering af pesticider 2020, der søger at erstatte insekticidloven fra 1968, som er forældet og mangler tænder til at håndtere groft misbrug af pesticider. Lovforslaget skal fremsættes i Folketinget under anden del af den nuværende budgetsamling den 2. marts-3. april.

"Det nye udkast til lovforslag har til formål at beskytte landmændenes interesser, så de er sikret sikre og effektive pesticider, " forklarede miljø- og informationsminister Prakash Javadekar.

Ifølge Javadekar, regningen, hvis detaljer først kan oplyses, før de rent faktisk er fremlagt i parlamentet, fastsætter kompensationer til landmænd - der skal finansieres med sanktioner, der pålægges producenter og forhandlere - i tilfælde af, at pesticider, der sælges til dem, er af lav kvalitet og ikke beskytter afgrøder.

En embedsmand i landbrugsministeriet, der ikke kan navngives under standard briefing regler, sagde, at regeringen har til hensigt at regulere, gennem regningen, alle aspekter af pesticidfremstilling og -salg, såsom priser, marketing, mærkning, opbevaring og bortskaffelse af pesticider.

Alligevel, der er bekymring for, at lovforslaget, som i høj grad er drevet af pesticidproducenter og eksportører, kan ende med at tjene storvirksomhedens interesser frem for Indiens landmænd, der udgør 65 procent af landets 1,2 milliarder mennesker og er bekymrede nok til at begå selvmord i flok.

Af de 318 pesticider, der er registreret til brug i Indien, 18 er klassificeret som ekstremt eller meget farlige (Klasse 1A og 1B efter WHO-klassificering). Ekstremt farlige pesticider på listen omfatter bromadiolon, captafol, dichlorfos, phorat og phospamidon.

Også, 104 pesticider forbudt i to eller flere lande, er fortsat blevet brugt i Indien med katastrofale konsekvenser for menneskers sundhed og miljø. I 2015, regeringen nedsatte et udvalg ledet af Anupam Verma, en førende landbrugsforsker, at gennemgå 66 af pesticiderne i den farlige kategori.

Selvom Verma-udvalget anbefalede et forbud mod 13 pesticider, udfasning af seks inden 2020 og gennemgang af 27, landbrugsministeriet forbød kun 10 pesticider, udfaset seks og begrænsede to andre.

The inadequacy of the Verma committee's recommendations and subsequent bans became apparent in October 2018 when 40 farmers died and 800 were hospitalized in Maharashtra state due to alleged poisoning with monochrotophos, a pesticide banned in more than 60 countries. Calls by WHO to ban monochrotophos in India, because of its risks, have gone unheeded. Monochrotophos, which falls in WHO's 1B category, continues to be manufactured, used and exported.

As a result of the Verma committee's recommendations, the agricultural ministry started a program of monitoring agriculture commodities and analyzing them for the presence of pesticide residues. The ministry also instituted "Integrated Pest Management Centres' tasked with sensitizing farmers to safe and judicious use of pesticides and to the use of biopesticides and alternative plant protection methods.

"Such measures can make a difference if fully implemented. But the fact is that the government's agricultural extension program is grossly understaffed and has all but collapsed, " says Reddy. "The result is that poorly trained traders, interested only in chalking up sales, push dangerous chemicals on to ignorant farmers who resort to usage and dosage practices that are dangerous for humans, livestock and wildlife."

In theory, says Reddy, it is the job of the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India to prescribe and ensure application of correct dosages of approved pesticides for each crop. "That rarely happens for lack of staff and funds."

The impact of pesticide misuse is particularly severe in the resource-poor rural areas where farm workers fall sick or die only because they are not provided with protective gear for use while spraying toxic pesticides or cannot access timely and competent medical treatment.

Second biggest pesticides user

Of concern is evidence that far more pesticides are being used in India than officially recorded. Presentations made in 2016 to the parliamentary standing committee on agriculture by a government official of the department of chemicals and petrochemicals estimated the figure to be in the region of 1.2 billion tonnes annually.

That would make India the biggest user of pesticides in the world after China, which consumes 1.8 billion tonnes annually and far ahead of the US at third spot with 386 million tonnes.

According to the official's submissions, there are complaints from the Indian pesticides industry that their sales are being hurt by multinational companies bringing in formulations that are then used to manufacture final products in India and pushed into the market. "Therefore, the usage is large compared to what it should be, " the official told the parliamentary committee.

In its document, FICCI has demanded stringent action by government against companies failing to share import-export data as per norms set by the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee and tightening of the review process on imports of agro-chemicals, especially from China.

ASHA (acronym for Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture), a large, volunteer-driven network of organizations and individuals, has demanded that the new legislation look beyond regulation as a clearing house or facilitator of big business and focus on the risks to human beings and to biosafety.

Kavitha Kuruganti, national convenor of ASHA, says the new bill should aim to regulate the entire product life-cycle with liability fixed on manufacturers. "Registration of a pesticide should be based on actual need and should in no case be granted to products that have been banned or been severely restricted in two or more countries, " hun sagde.

"ASHA would like to see in place a proper data system to record all poisonings and a redressal mechanism for individuals and communities affected by pesticides that is funded by a cess levied on profits made by the pesticides industry on local sales and exports, " Kuruganti said.

Devinder Sharma, founder-member of Kisan Ekta (Farmers' Unity), a leading coalition of farmers' organizations, says the new legislation is an opportunity to fix liability on pesticide manufacturers. "India's legislators should take a cue from the numerous lawsuits brought up against multinational players like Bayer-Monsanto and BASF for damage caused to the environment, unintended crops and human health."

On 15 February, a U.S. court in Missouri ordered German agrochemical giants Bayer and BASF to pay US$265 million as fines for 'off-target' damages caused by spraying with Dicamba, a broad-spectrum herbicide developed for biotech crops by Monsanto, the US agribusiness major which was acquired by Bayer in 2016.

"It must not be forgotten that the US multinational Union Carbide got off lightly after its pesticide plant in Bhopal caused the world's worst industrial disaster only because of weak laws, " Sharma said. At least 3, 787 people died and thousands were severely injured after toxic gas leaked from the plant in December 1984. Legal proceedings continue in India's Supreme Court for compensation beyond the $470 million paid by the company.