1. The document discusses the controversy around endosulfan pesticide spraying in Kasargod district of Kerala between 1981-2000 and its potential link to health issues in the area. 2. While some villages near the sprayed cashew plantations reported unusually high rates of infertility, congenital disabilities, and other health problems, the evidence linking endosulfan to these issues is inconclusive and there are many unanswered questions. 3. Other potential contributing factors like genetic disorders, consumption of alcohol and tobacco, and environmental factors like water quality have not been fully investigated and the health problems are not confined to areas that were sprayed.

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Kerala’s pesticide puzzle
Twice every year, between 1981 and 2000, a helicopter would whirr around the hills of the
Western Ghats in Kasargod, a district in north Kerala bordering Karnataka, spraying
endosulfan over the cashew plantations on the upper reaches. Children would rush out to
take a look at the helicopter and the white spray would settle like mist on their heads and
on leaves and shimmer in the sunlight. But that’s also when people associated the mist with
something deadly—the unusually high number of people with infertility and congenital
problems in 11 panchayats in the district.
In 2000, after a sustained anti‐endosulfan campaign, the state government banned the
pesticide. But the issue stayed alive and images of the ‘pesticide victims’ from Kasargod
villages filled the public debate in the state. Recently, Union Minister of State for
Agriculture and the Congress’s MP from Kochi, K V Thomas, reignited that debate when he
said there was no proof to hold the pesticide guilty for the health hazards in Kasargod.
Thomas’s comment came soon after India opposed a global ban on endosulfan at the sixth
meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee to the Stockholm
Convention. But the issue is an emotive one in Kerala and Thomas quickly changed his
stand to go with the prevailing mood.
Last week, the Indian Council for Medical Research commissioned a study to look into the
extent of the damage the aerial spraying of endosulfan over 4,696 hectares of cashew
plantation, owned by the state‐run Plantation Corporation Kerala Limited, had done to the
surrounding villages.
While the problem is for real, there are some unanswered questions, drowned in the
shrillness of the anti‐ and pro‐endosulfan debate and the contradicting findings of the
dozen‐odd committees set up over the years to study the issue. Like, has there been a study
that aims to get to the bottom of the problem, without taking sides? Who is an ‘endosulfan
victim’ in Kasargod? Has there been any study so far that conclusively links the pesticide to
the congenital problems in this area?
According to Dr K M Sreekumar of the College of Agriculture in Kasargod, “There are a lot
of missing links between the reported health problems and endosulfan. Although the
pesticide was sprayed across the cashew estate, only some areas have reported an
unusually high number of diseases. All the expert committees had suggested the need for a
comprehensive, multi‐disciplinary epidemiological and health study in the plantations to
bring out the truth,’’ says Sreekumar.
“A major challenge to prove a cause‐and‐effect relation between endosulfan and the
reported health hazards is the absence of evidence that this pesticide would cause a
particular disease. Besides, there aren’t enough studies done on endosulfan’s effects on
health,’’ says Dr K P Aravindan, pathology professor at the Kozhikode Medical College.
NUMBERS DON’T ADD UP
Despite the high‐decibel campaigning for the cause of the affected people, neither the
government nor the agitators have a grip on the magnitude of the tragedy. Revenue

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department documents say 178 people have died of endosulfan‐related illnesses. The
health department has just done a fresh survey aimed at identifying endosulfan victims in
Kasargod.
According to district medical officer Jose D’Cruz, the exact number of endosulfan victims is
yet to be known. “In the recent survey, our department held 17 camps in 11 panchayats. Of
the 15,698 patients who attended these camps, we identified 3,435 patients as suspected
endosulfan victims,’’ says D’Cruz.
But almost any death here gets linked to endosulfan. There is also a rush to get into the list
of the affected as the state government gives free medical care, a monthly aid of
Rs 1,000 and rice at Rs 2 a kg to the victims—a scheme the LDF government started in
2006. As of now, 535 people are eligible for this aid. Last month, protesters, angry with
officials who wanted to weed out the ineligible, disrupted the health survey at many places.
There is no mechanism to verify if a patient is a pesticide victim or not. Jagadeesh, 40, from
a village under the Enmakaje panchayat, is an endosulfan victim in government records—
diagnosed with mental retardation and epilepsy. He was born in 1970, at least 10 years
before the first spraying of endosulfan and even before the trial run began in 1977‐78. That
he wasn’t enrolled in primary school at the age of six indicates his congenital problems
preceded the spraying. His four younger siblings, born in the days of the spraying, are all
married with children who are in good health. Jagadeesh was first taken for treatment only
15 years ago, when the endosulfan issue erupted.
In 2003, a state government‐appointed medical team conducted a survey comparing areas
where endolsulfan had been sprayed and areas untouched by the pesticide. Eighty
thousand people each from the two areas were part of the survey. It found that cases of
mental retardation, congenital deformities and infertility were high in the sprayed areas as
compared to the non‐sprayed areas, but only relatively. The numbers indicate that the
health problems are unusually high in the non‐sprayed areas too. Surprisingly, the non‐
sprayed areas were found worse than the sprayed areas when it came to multiple abortions
and physical disabilities. (see box above)
Another aspect that needs attention is why, among the sprayed areas, there are some
places that are more affected than others. For instance, while Enmakaje is the worst‐hit
among the 11 panchayats, areas very close to the sprayed zones, for example, Veeramoola
and Asharimoola settlements near Muliyar panchayat, have no reported case of endosulfan‐
linked problems. That’s surprising since these two settlements are in the lap of the hills
where cashew trees once grew. Villagers say the only trouble they had was on the day of
spraying when the fish in open wells and ponds perished.
Thirty‐five km away from Muliyar is Enmakaje, the face of the tragedy. In 2001, the Kerala
Sasthra Sahithya Parishath (KSSP), a pro‐Left science movement, conducted a study in
seven panchayats—Cheemeni, Panathur, Rajapuram, Periya, Kottor, Muliyar and Enmakaje.
The survey found that at Enmakaje, the consanguinity rate (couples who are related) per
thousand was 7.4 while the same for the other six panchayats together was 6.3. There were
18.6 childless couples for every 1,000 couples at Enmakaje, while the figure was 6.6 for the

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other six panchayats put together. So what makes Enmakaje worse off than the other
affected areas? No study has established this.
OTHER REASONS?
Enmakaje has a sizable presence of backward communities, especially Marathi Naiks. The
2003 health department survey revealed that liquor and tobacco consumption was high in
Enmakaje.
Narasimha Poojari, a CPI(M) leader at Vaninagar in Enmakaje, says diseases such as cancer
and psoriasis have been prevalent in the region, even before the spraying of endosulfan
began in 1981. “Even school children are addicted to tobacco and cheap liquor from
Karnataka. Oral cancer has always been prevalent in the region. Years of endosulfan rain
only made things worse,’’ says Poojari.
Dr Y S Mohan Kumar, a doctor at Vaninagar since the early 80s, was one of the first to
campaign against the use of endosulfan in the cashew estates after he detected a high
number of people with deformities in the region. But it was possible, he thought, for the
reasons to lie elsewhere. In 1997, Dr Kumar wrote in the Kerala Medical Journal of the
Indian Medical Association, “I feel the root cause of the problem lies in the water itself
which may contain a mineral or radioactive substance which is harmful to the brain.’’ He
was referring to the waters of the Swarga stream that flowed through Enmakaje.
“There may be genuine cases and not‐so‐genuine ones. Circumstantial evidences hold
endosulfan responsible for the maladies. We cannot say whether the 10‐year‐long ban has
helped improve the health of the villagers,’’ says Dr Kumar, who continues to be in the
forefront of the agitation.
In Kasargod, the high number of mentally and physically‐challenged persons is not
confined to the endosulfan‐hit regions. A recent survey, conducted as part of the Centre’s
Nirmaya Project, revealed that there were 146 mentally‐challenged people in Mogral
Puthur village panchayat, 48 km from Enmakaje. Here, there are families who have more
than one challenged child.
“Even now, many children are born with congenital deformities in the region.
Consanguinity is prevalent among Muslims and backward Hindus of the coastal belt of the
district. That could be a possible reason,” says C Ramakrishnan, a resource person with the
Integrated Education for Disabled Secondary Stage Project.
Former employees of PCKL disagree that endosulfan is responsible for Kasargod’s health
worries. Bala Kurup, a former PCKL manager, says workers at the estate never had health
problems linked to endosulfan. In fact, none of the committees looked into the health status
of the workers who once worked in the cashew estates.
K Gangadharan, 56, started working at the PCKL estate when he was 18. “During the days of
aerial spraying, I was part of the team that mixed the pesticide. We were ignorant and
didn’t wear any protective gloves. But we never developed any health problems,’’ says
Gangadharan, now a supervisor at the estate.

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About 345 km away, in central Kerala’s Palakkad district is Thenkara village. Here too,
PCKL had aerially sprayed endosulfan over its 505 hectares of cashew plantation, starting
from the mid‐eighties till 2000. Strangely, no case of chronic ailment was ever reported
here.
Is there then more to Kerala’s endosulfan story that needs to be probed?
Study reports on endosulfan
Centre for Science and Environment, Delhi, analysed biological and environmental samples
for endosulfan residue in February 2001, a month after the last aerial spray. High levels of
the pesticide were found in human blood, human milk, vegetables, spices, cashew leaves
and cashew.
The Frederick Institute of Plant Protection and Toxicology in Tamil Nadu looked for
pesticide residue in some samples from Padre, near the estates, in February 2001. Survey
did not show elevated endosulfan levels in samples of blood, cows’ milk and water, but
traces were detected in soil and leaf.
National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH) study in September 2001 said endosulfan
residues were detected above the permitted level in blood samples of school children in
exposed area. Low sexual maturity rate detected. Higher prevalence of goiter, congenital
deformities and fast history of jaundice in exposed group.
The Kerala Agriculture University conducted a probe into the environmental effects of
spraying. The University reported that though nervous system‐related problems are
present in some families, there was no evidence to confirm the involvement of endosulfan.
It recommended a detailed multi‐disciplinary study.
A state health department probe in 2003 reported health problems in three panchayats
adjacent to the plantations. No evidence to implicate or exonerate endosulfan as the
causative factor.
The Union Agricultural Ministry’s expert committee reported there was no link to establish
endosulfan‐health link. However, the committee recommended against the use of the
pesticide in Kerala.
The Kerala State Council for Science and Technology is now doing a split analysis of water
and soil in the affected region for preparing a benchmark protocol for an environmental
monitoring and future studies.
Source: Indian Express