STATE WIDE PROTEST DEMANDING BAN ON EDOSULFAN

         STATE WIDE PROTEST DEMANDING BAN ON ENDOSULFAN

  The Kerala government and various non-governmental organisations will organise protests across the state on  Monday,25th April,2011 ,demanding a ban on Endosulfan as the conference of parties of the stockholm convention meets in Geneva to consider a global ban. Chief Minister V.S Achuthanandan will lead a mass 'Satyagraha, from 10 am to 5 pm at the Thiruvananthapuram Marty's column demanding that India should adopt a stand in favour of the ban at the convention and that the centre should provide assistance to the state to compensate victims of Endosulfan.
   The Green community announced that it would organise' Satyagraha' from April 25 to 29 in front of the secretariat to coincide with the meeting of the conference of parties of Stockholm convention.
  An epidemiological study by the kozhikodu medical College has reconfirmed that various abnormalities and diseases were higher among the people in the Endosulfan sprayed areas of Kasaragod district than among the normal population. High levels of Endosulfan was detected in blood samples  of villagerfs of 11 panchayats, a decade after the state owned plantation corporation of Kerala stopped spraying the pesticide in its estates in the district. The study done by the community medicine department of the government medical college, headed by T Jayakrishnan, should that the reproductive  health problems including infertility, precious puberty, abortion, intra-uterine death and still birth, child death were significantly higher among the villagers when compared to control groups.
   There are indications that occurrence of birth defects and problems like abortions have done during the past ten years, after spraying of Endosulfan in cashew plantations

                                                                                                          Prof. John Kurakar