FriendBurst Blog

NOTE: This is a guest post from Tori Timms, a campaigner for the Environmental Justice Foundation (EJF).

Around fifty years ago, German company Hoechst Schering AgrEvo patented
what was then perceived to be a new ‘wonder’ chemical pesticide –
endosulfan. This, they believed, could be used on almost all crops and
could selectively pick its way through the application zone, eliminating
pests but leaving useful insects unscathed.

Sadly this has
not been the case. Fast forward a few decades, and endosulfan has come
out of patent, and generic versions are being produced and sold around
the world, mainly in developing countries. All but one of the top ten
cotton producing countries used it and other regular uses include on
soy, rice, wheat, vegetables, fruits, nuts, coffee and tobacco crops.

There has been growing concern internationally about the unintentional
consequences of endosulfan. This has triggered a wave of national bans
on the pesticide, and in 2011 the future manufacture and use of the
pesticide is under debate.

Since last year, endosulfan, like
DDT, has been officially classed as a Persistent Organic Pollutant
(POP). POPs take a very long time to break down naturally once they have
been released into the environment, and they can be transported over
long distances. Traces of endosulfan have been found in the blood of
polar bears in Svalbard, the blubber of minke whales and even in grasses
on Mt. Everest.

All pesticides are hazardous by design,
manufactured with the sole aim of killing, repelling or inhibiting the
growth of organisms, and those which are POPs are particularly noted for
their high toxicity. Endosulfan is no exception.

Endosulfan
is readily absorbed through human skin, the stomach and lungs and acute
exposure can be fatal. The National Poison Control Information Center of
the Philippines recorded 278 poisonings including 85 deaths due to
endosulfan in 1990 and more recently, in 2008, five school-age boys died
in Jharkhand, India, after drinking contaminated milk.

The
stories of fatal accidental exposure are almost always in developing
countries, and always devastating for the families and community of
those lost. The Pesticide Action Network
reported one such story where a father in Benin had come back from
working in the fields and left his pesticide-soaked work clothes on the
roof of his house to keep them safely out of reach from his young
children. Overnight it rained, and water from the roof ran over his
clothes and down into the family’s water containers. The next morning
the children used the water for drinking and washing. Within minutes
they suffered headaches, nausea and convulsions. Within 20 hours, all
four children were dead.

Chronic endosulfan exposure has been
linked to severe physical deformities, delayed reproductive development,
suppressed immunity, renal failure, cerebral palsy, epilepsy, increased
risk of Parkinson’s Disease and infertility.

Unborn children
and infants are particularly vulnerable because endosulfan accumulates
in placental tissue, umbilical cord blood and breast milk.

This is a worldwide concern: despite domestic bans on its use, it has
been found in samples from women living in countries including Denmark,
Finland, Spain, and the US.

Endosulfan is also devastating to livestock and wildlife.

Run-off from fields has emptied life from large stretches of rivers,
and spraying has resulted in severe declines in beneficial insects.
Kerala Agricultural University recently published their findings that
within a day of endosulfan being applied to cardamom plants, honey bees
in Idukki had shown symptoms of poisoning and colony populations had
declined.

There are proven, effective, economically-viable and
socially sustainable alternatives for all uses of endosulfan.
Recognising this and the huge body of scientific evidence against the
continued use of endosulfan, more than 70 countries have now announced
national bans. These include Brazil, Colombia, Cote d’Ivoire, Indonesia,
Australia and all EU countries.

When announcing the US phase
out, the US EPA highlighted that “endosulfan poses unacceptable risks to
agricultural workers and wildlife” and that it simply cannot be applied
safely for the majority of its uses.

However, because of its
persistence, no country can protect its people from endosulfan until a
global ban is in place. This could be achieved by listing endosulfan
under Annex A of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic
Pollutants (POPs), with no exemptions made for any of its uses.

Last year, the Stockholm Convention Scientific Committee (POPRC) made
the recommendation that endosulfan be globally restricted. National
parties to the convention will make the final decision on this in Geneva
next month.

We are very close to a global ban on endosulfan,
but first it is necessary to persuade the handful of countries in
opposition it is the right action to take. Opposition is being led by
the Indian delegation, the same government that is the owner and
beneficiary of one of the world’s top endosulfan manufacturers.

Please
show your support to governments putting people and planet before
profit by signing EJF’s petition for a global ban on endosulfan.

—
The
Environmental Justice Foundation is a charity working to empower people
who suffer most from environmental abuses to find peaceful ways of
preventing them. EJF provides film and advocacy training to individuals
and grassroots organisations, enabling them to document, expose and
create long term solutions to environmental abuses.

Source:

http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/an-old-pesticide-causing-new-problems/