THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Forest Minister Benoy Viswom has said Kerala was of the considered opinion that the Centre should take a relook at the Pesticide Management Bill of 2008.
In a letter to Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Saturday, he said that Kerala, upon studying the draft of the Bill, had found it not addressing the core issues of pesticide misuse, contamination and poisoning. The Bill also did not make any effort to harmonise Indian regulations with global concerns and commitments.
Mr. Viswom said there was absolutely no provision in the Bill enabling the State to ban or regulate a pesticide although it was up to the State to take up the full responsibility and liability of any adverse impact the pesticide would have on the health of the people and the environment. The State should be given the power to ban, or withhold from use, pesticides found detrimental to its local conditions.
He said conditions vary from State to State. For instance, Kerala was very rich in biodiversity. The forest and wildlife territories were lying close to farm lands. Bird studies conducted in Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kannur district had indicated a diminishing trend in the population of insectivorous birds, probably because of pesticides being applied in the plantations nearby. From the wildlife tracts around Munnar too, frequent reports were being received about the occurrence of tumours and similar health problems among wild animals.
He noted that India, quite unscientifically, was continuing the use of many pesticides that were banned in other countries. A study carried out by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History had revealed some time back that nearly 1,400 of the wetlands studied in India were contaminated with pesticides.
This should have surely been the main reason for the massive depletion of fish diversity in the country. Mr. Viswom noted that Endosulfan was also a pesticide with high aquatic toxicity.
Mr. Viswom said the choice of pesticide use should be left to the States concerned. Also, the Ministry of Environment and Forests at the Centre and the Forest and Wildlife Departments in the States should have a role in regulating and monitoring pesticide use, he said.
Source: The Hindu, 28-11-2010
In a letter to Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests Jairam Ramesh on Saturday, he said that Kerala, upon studying the draft of the Bill, had found it not addressing the core issues of pesticide misuse, contamination and poisoning. The Bill also did not make any effort to harmonise Indian regulations with global concerns and commitments.
Mr. Viswom said there was absolutely no provision in the Bill enabling the State to ban or regulate a pesticide although it was up to the State to take up the full responsibility and liability of any adverse impact the pesticide would have on the health of the people and the environment. The State should be given the power to ban, or withhold from use, pesticides found detrimental to its local conditions.
He said conditions vary from State to State. For instance, Kerala was very rich in biodiversity. The forest and wildlife territories were lying close to farm lands. Bird studies conducted in Aralam Wildlife Sanctuary in Kannur district had indicated a diminishing trend in the population of insectivorous birds, probably because of pesticides being applied in the plantations nearby. From the wildlife tracts around Munnar too, frequent reports were being received about the occurrence of tumours and similar health problems among wild animals.
He noted that India, quite unscientifically, was continuing the use of many pesticides that were banned in other countries. A study carried out by Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History had revealed some time back that nearly 1,400 of the wetlands studied in India were contaminated with pesticides.
This should have surely been the main reason for the massive depletion of fish diversity in the country. Mr. Viswom noted that Endosulfan was also a pesticide with high aquatic toxicity.
Mr. Viswom said the choice of pesticide use should be left to the States concerned. Also, the Ministry of Environment and Forests at the Centre and the Forest and Wildlife Departments in the States should have a role in regulating and monitoring pesticide use, he said.
Source: The Hindu, 28-11-2010
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