Endosulfan ban: SC seeks govts’ views

New Delhi: Two days after India agreed to phase out pesticide Endosulfan at a world convention in Geneva, the Supreme Court on Monday asked the Centre and states to respond in 10 days to a PIL seeking a ban on the toxic pest killer already banned by 84 countries. A bench of Chief Justice S H Kapadia and Justices K S Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar did not wait for senior advocate Krishnan Venugopal to open arguments for petitioner ‘Democratic Youth Federation of India’ and declared that it was issuing notice to the respondents.
Venugopal pointed out that India on Friday had accepted the toxic effects of Endosulfan at the Geneva convention and had agreed to phase it out in 10 years. Endosulfan industry in India is estimated at Rs 500 crore. A concerned court enlisted solicitor general Gopal Subramaniam’s assistance, taking into account the shocking results of scientific tests on Endosulfan’s effect on humans, narrated in detail by the petition drafted by advocate Deepak Prakash. Research found that “Endosulfan exposure in male children may delay sexual maturity" and “higer prevalence of neurobehavioral disorder”. A Calicut Medical College study in Kerala’s worst Endosulfan affected district Kasaragod said “reproductive health events including infertility, precocious puberty, abortion, intra-uterine death, still birth, neonatal/child death were found significantly higher” in the population exposed to the pesticide.