Advocates warn that if Indian exports are allowed in the interim manufacturers will begin dumping endosulfan in under-developed countries which often have weak regulations for controlling pesticide use. ©EJF
Advocates warn that if Indian exports are allowed in the interim manufacturers will begin dumping endosulfan in under-developed countries which often have weak regulations for controlling pesticide use. ©EJF
25/07/11

India’s Supreme Court has announced that it will extend the interim national ban on the production and use of chemical pesticide endosulfan for a further eight weeks.

The initial ban was put in place on Friday 13th May this year and was due to last eight weeks. During this time a joint committee headed by the Director General Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the Agriculture Commissioner was appointed to produce a report establishing endosulfan’s toxicity.

The report’s recommendations would enable the Supreme Court to make a decision on the future production and use of this chemical.

The review in India comes in the wake of major international developments. Two weeks before the interim ban was announced, the 170 or so country parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) agreed to a global phase out of endosulfan, in most countries within the next 5 years.

Campaigners, including EJF, have long been pushing for a nation-wide ban in India as the world’s top producer and user of this harmful ago-chemical.

EJF has called for the world-wide elimination of endosulfan due to the severe threats it poses to the environment, biodiversity and human health. There is overwhelming evidence linking endosulfan to serious health problems including infertility, neurological damage and physical deformity.

As the extension was announced, the Pesticide Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India (PMFAI) appealed for immediate relief and for the Supreme Court to allow the export during this time.

The Court denied this request.

A representative from the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI), which co-filed the original petition, is quoted as saying, “If exports are allowed, the manufacturers will begin dumping endosulfan in under-developed African countries or the Asian countries, which have weak regulations for controlling pesticide use.”
 
Read the report here.

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