GUJARAT AGAINST BAN ON ENDOSULFAN

GUJARAT AGAINST BAN ON

ENDOSULFAN

The Gujarat Government has made a request to the Centre not to ban Endosulfan, an agriculture pesticide found to be an organic pollutant, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar said in the Rajya Sabha Friday,12^th August,2011.. Answering questions, he said production, sale and use of Endosulfan has been banned by Supreme court, through an interim order, on May 13 in the country. "What the Supreme Court said, we will oblige," he said. In reply to a supplementary by P. Rajeev (CPM), the minister said the entire issue was restricted to Kerala and Karnataka. As for others, Pawar said the government has received "contradictory" response on Endosulfan from different states.

"Gujarat has made a request not to ban it," he said. But the Centre would go by whatever is decided by the apex court, Pawar said. He said that the Supreme Court has appointed a committee in this regard. Endosulfan has recently been recognised as a persistent organic pollutant by the Stockholm convention. As many as 60 countries have banned the use of the pesticide which is comparatively less expensive than other substitutes available in the market. All political parties in Kerala are demanding all-India ban on Endosulfan following instance of health hazards in one of the districts in the state. Manufacture, import and formulation of another pesticide, Lindane - recognised by the Stockholm Convention as pollutant - has been banned since March this year. However, the ban on its use will be effective from March, 2013, the minister said. Pawar said DDT has also been termed by the Convention as an organic polluter. But as many as 23 states are still using it for public health programme.

                                                                  Prof. John Kurakar