India stands in the way of global ban on toxic pesticide endosulfan

In a recent letter to the Secretariat of the Rotterdam Convention, the Indian Chemical Council (ICC) - with the ironic slogan ‘Responsible Care’ – has nit-picked its way through the Convention’s complex legal terminology, looking for a way to block moves towards greater information exchange on the trade in endosulfan.

You can read the letter at the end of this article and then send your own letter to the Indian Minister of State for Environment and Forests calling for the Indian Government not to oppose a global ban on deadly pesticide endosulfan.

A long-time opponent to any restrictions or regulation of endosulfan use, the ICC is fighting a submission by nine West African nations to add endosulfan to the Rotterdam Convention listing.

The Convention does not restrict trade, but through its Prior Informed Consent procedure, is able to promote information exchange and ensure that importing governments are aware of the potential dangers hazardous chemicals such as endosulfan can pose. At its last meeting in 2008, nearly all governments present supported endosulfan’s listing, but the Indian delegation, advised by the ICC and endosulfan manufacturers, led the opposition, and managed to hold sway.

In 2009, it may be a reflection of a desperate ‘last stand’, but the ICC is trying to ensure the issue doesn’t even reach the debating stage. Instead the ICC are using as its main objection that the submission was made by the African nations after the ninety day deadline – arguably a moot point when the discussion centres on whether endosulfan is killing and maiming hundreds, if not thousands, of people each year.

As Dr Meriel Watts, co-ordinator, Pesticide Action Network Aotearoa New Zealand, recently noted, "We can only hope that by then the Indian Government will come to realise the enormous embarrassment to it, that is being caused by its delegate [to the convention meetings], and by its conflict of interest: the Indian government owns Hindustan Industries, one of the manufacturers of endosulfan. This type of conflict of interest is unheard of in international conventions, and India's behaviour is threatening to wreck both the [Stockholm and Rotterdam] Conventions".

The international community is continuing to work towards endosulfan’s eradication using good science and trying to persuade India to see reason to halt the production of the pesticide in the larger interest of humanity, the environment and other nations who are affected by India’s continued use.

Download and read the letter from the ICC here