Ban endosulfan: dossier November 2010 April 2011
The “Endosulfan poisoning “ at Kasargod was first reported in the media in 1979 by Sri. Shreepadre farm journalist from the village Padre. The Plantation Corporation of Kerala started areal spraying of endosulfan in its cashew plantations in Kasargod district in 1976. The struggle against aerial spraying was started as early as 1980 and the struggle against Endosulfan started in late 1990s. Since then, people in the district have been asking for a ban of endosulfan. Several committees have looked in to the issue and the High Court of Kerala banned the chemical in Kerala in 2003. The Central Government withheld the sale and use in Kerala in
2005. The State Government of Kerala has set up a endosulfan relief and remediation cell and already spend several lakhs to provide relief to the affected and much more need to be done.
The people of Kerala and the state government has been working for national ban of Endosulfan. The stand taken by the Government of India against its ban at POPs review committee meeting
held in Stockholm in October 2010 triggered state wide protest. State government, political parties, students and civil society came openly against India’s stand. This dossier is a collection of news paper reports from 1st November 2010 to 11 January 2011 related to this.