Note: Even though this article is about farmers endangering themselves with spraying pesticides, it gives us an idea of the level of toxicity present in vegetables produced by them.
Poison alert for Punjab farmers
GAJINDER SINGH
Chandigarh, June 7: When they spray their fields with pesticides, Punjab’s farmers virtually conduct chemical warfare against themselves, a study by a Delhi-based NGO has found.
The Centre for Science and Environment has detected in the blood of the state’s farmers chemicals from six to 13 pesticides, in quantities up to 600 times the levels found in Americans.
“If it’s Punjab today, tomorrow it could be Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Bihar. Regulation must begin immediately,” the centre’s director, Sunita Narain, said.
The tests were undertaken following media reports of an increase in cancer cases in Punjab. But Narain could not link the pesticides (organochlorine and organophosphate) in the bloodstream with cancer as she wasn’t sure exactly what harm they did to humans.
Studies on animals show that even a single instance of low-level exposure to some organophosphates can cause changes in the brain’s chemistry. Early childhood exposure can lead to lasting effects on learning, attention and behaviour.
The study, conducted in October, during spraying time, tested 20 randomly selected blood samples from four villages: Mahi Nangal, Jajjal and Balloh in Bathinda district and Dher in Ropar district. The districts are among the highest users of pesticides in the state.
Regulation of the use of the older-generation organochlorine pesticides, like DDT, Lindane and Aldrin, began in the 1970s. Some were later banned. Organophosphates have higher toxicity.
“The levels of certain organochlorine pesticides in the blood samples are very high,” she said. “They vary between 15 and 605 times higher than those found in samples of people in the United States, tested by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention (and published) in its 2003 report.”
Narain suggested the chemical content of pesticides in India must be different from those in the US. Also, Indian farmers don’t take adequate precautions while spraying the chemicals in their fields.
“The people must be told about the harmful effects of the pesticides they have been using. I hold the industry responsible for the dismal situation,” she said. “We found pesticides that should have disintegrated in the body and been excreted, as claimed by the industry. But they are there.”
The centre has demanded a “chemical trespass law” to hold manufacturers responsible for chemicals getting into the human body, regular monitoring of pesticides in people and registering only those pesticides that have low toxic level.
systemic pesticides (used mostly in developed countries because of their high price) are indeed absorbed internally by the plants and have very persistent residues or metabolites.
I have been an organic gardener for many years and I know how it is to grow food without pesticides. Yet, there is no question that such produce is much healthier for both us and the environment... but sometimes, when you lose almost all of your crop to bugs, I fully understand the pesticide users
