My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,

Natural calamities definitely interrupt lives and upset some parts of the globe in vitriol and disappear in a short while. But certain actions of men which are least farsighted push all living things slowly but irrecoverably to ruin through a process of negative evolution. Endosulfan is the best example for this procrastination. Our constitution has provisions to award capital punishment to those convicted for murder or massacre. Through capital punishment in a way all the sufferings of the convict are ended abruptly. Deliberate actions causing irremediable damage and ruin to others all through their lives by pain and agony needs punishment of a greater degree.

Indians as a whole other as the members of the ruling party at the centre are looking forward the stand India is going to take at the meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) of Stockholm Convention. Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan and Forest Minister Benoy Viswam have written to the Centre demanding that it should adopt a stand in favour of ban.

Endosulfan the deadly chemical, even very name of which stirs up the tragic images of its living victims in every heart that loves its co-beings. Children born with stag-horn limbs, scaly skin, dermatitis, protruded tongues, deformed eyes, extra fingers and toes, cleft palates, clubbed feet and harelips, hydrocephalus, renal and respiratory disorders, cognitive and emotional deterioration, memory loss, poor sensory-motor reflex, ophthalmic inertness , cerebral palsy, epilepsy, infertility; youths who underwent compound surgery, artificial limb fixation, young mothers who opted repeated abortions rather than being mothers of deformed children; youth who look like children and children who look like stunted olds.

Endosulfan is highly toxic, persistent and bio-accumulative is a wide spreading contaminant of the environment. This long-term pesticide is used to kill insects and mites on various crops including cotton, tea, coffee, cashew, cardamom, fruits, vegetables, rice and grain. Semi-volatile in nature is known to spread through air, water, soil, food and other means to even the most remote corners of the world like the Antarctic contaminating the global food supply and drinking water. It is passed from mothers to their unborn children. The production and use of this dangerous chemical will let its levels in the environment and humans to rise, even in locations distant from production and use.

It is an endocrine disrupter, interfering with normal hormone production activity in both males and females, and can significantly affect the nervous system. It mainly accumulates in fatty tissue, placental tissue, umbilical cord blood and breast milk and hence the foetus will be exposed through mother’s blood, and the child after birth again gets re-exposed through the breast milk. Foetus and infants are the most vulnerable to its violent irreversible effects.

Kasargod's endosulfan tragedy and its reasons are solid proof to this. The State Agriculture Department started planting cashew trees on the hills surrounding the villages in the northern areas of Kasargod district in 1963. In 1978, the Kerala Plantation Corporation, which in later years assumed the likeness of a rogue body in the eyes of the people, took over these plantations.

During the early eighties the Corporation started its frightening aerial spraying of endosulfan in an extensive area of the cashew-growing hills and valleys spread over villages. For them endosulfan was a cost-effective remedy to the Bubonic plague caused by the tea mosquito bug, a destructive insect responsible for yield losses in cashew, a major foreign-exchange-earning cash crop of the state.

The ignorant villagers were thus exposed to the chemical, initially as they stood cavernous at the innovation of helicopters spewing the pesticide, or during their daily chores, through the water flowing down the hills, contaminated food, vegetables, fuel wood or even as plantation workers without protective clothing during the spraying.The Corporation ignored the truth that such aerial spraying of pesticides should be done very close to the top level or that it should not be sprayed continuously for a long time over an area. Copters often flew much above the specified height over the cashew trees to avoid power grids causing the spread of this highly toxic chemical to much wider areas contaminating all the biotic and abiotic sources of the area. All the warning signals of fatality like dead birds, frogs and fish in the streams and rivulets; cattle, and wildlife found dead in the plantation areas were ignored completely. Local people started experiencing acute toxicity symptoms after the spraying of endosulfan, over and inside their bodies.

India is the largest producer and user of endosulfan, with many manufacturers and formulators involved in the production and sale. Both the manufacturers and government agencies have continuously denied the severe harmful effects of endosulfan and maintained that the tragedy in Kasargod was the result of the improper mode of application of the pesticide. On October 25, the Union Minister of State for Agriculture, Mr. K.V. Thomas was seen reiterating this argument at a seminar in Kasargod. It is a controversial argument (babbling) that stands against the accumulating evidence of peer-reviewed scientific studies the world over and an increasingly popular demand for a global ban on endosulfan which is opposed vigorously from all corners.

A public outcry and court cases ensued. The government first ordered a temporary ban in August 2001 but subsequently, in March 2002, confined it to the aerial spraying of the pesticide. However, in August 2002, following a report of an inquiry by the National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), Ahmedabad, which linked many of the ailments to the use of the pesticide, the Kerala High Court ordered an interim ban on its use, until, it said, an inquiry committee constituted by the Union government submitted its report. But the O.P. Dubey Committee, which gave a clean chit to the use of the pesticide, marked the beginning of a series of such inquiries and temporary bans on endosulfan in Kerala that were ordered as a matter of routine, whenever public outrage boiled over or when courts intervened.

The State Pollution Control Board again stopped the aerial spraying of endosulfan, in December 2004 on the basis of the Kerala High Court order(2002) and the Union government ordered in October 2005 that the sale, distribution and use of endosulfan in the State of Kerala shall remain prohibited till the results of another expert committee became available and a further decision was taken by the Central government. The C.D. Mayee Committee appointed thereafter endorsed many of the controversial claims of the earlier committee led by Dubey.

Though the aerial spraying of endosulfan in the cashew plantations of Kasargod was stopped, the use of the pesticide became more widespread in Kerala with the chemical being smuggled in from neighbouring States in large quantities for use in rubber, tea and cardamom plantations and in farms. The morbidity patterns, as seen among the victims in Kasargod, have gradually come to be reported rather alarmingly from many other agricultural districts of the State, like Idukki, Wayanad and Palakkad. Having known the irreparable debilitating effects of the pesticide on an entire generation of people in Kasargod, the State government could not ignore their plight for long. In 2006 the Left Democratic Front government eventually acknowledged the suffering of the victims and offered a compensation of Rs.50,000 to the survivors, pension for families of victims, and medical and social rehabilitation facilities – though it was inadequate for the victims.

On November 18, the National Human Rights Commission issued notices to the Central and State governments seeking explanations on media reports that the aerial spraying of endosulfan in Kasargod had affected people severely. The very next day, even as the State government and several political leaders began to call for a nationwide ban on the use of endosulfan, the Kerala Pollution Control Board issued a notification reintroducing a State-wide ban on the pesticide under pollution control laws. The endosulfan victims of Kasargod once again became the centre stage, through the media focus on and the pressure from international NGOs against India's opposition to the proposal for a global ban at the Stockholm Convention, under the pretext, among other reasons, that there is still no robust evidence to prove the health and environmental impact of the pesticide.

Endosulfan is now banned in over 62 countries, including those in the European Union and in the United States too because of high toxicity to humans and other organisms and its quality of persistence in the environment. Significantly, the U.S. ban was announced by its Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on June 7, 2010, as follows. “The EPA is taking action to end all uses of the insecticide Endosulfan in the United States. Endosulfan, which is used in vegetables, fruits, and cotton, can pose unacceptable neurological and reproductive risks to farm-workers and wildlife and can persist in the environment.” Agricultural products containing endosulfan are no longer registered in Australia. The three current approvals for endosulfan have also been cancelled, and the five products containing the chemical will be phased out over the next two years.

The organic farming communities have also stepped up their assault on the chemical, saying it interferes with hormones and is linked to breast cancer. They added that they won’t sell it, as it's not really needed – and there are far better insecticides out there to do the job, and they try to promote products that are more environmentally friendly and target specific.

Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority said that it does persist in the environment for very long periods after use and that's why it presents risks. The issue is how the risks are managed, an APVMA spokesman said. Having known the ill health effects of Endosulfan and allowing its use is more a reflection of the inability to manage risk, as it is a weakness on the part of an institution.

During manufacture or when used as pesticide Endosulfan enters air, water, and soil. Itis often applied to crops using sprayers. A part of endosulfan in the air may travel long distancesbefore it lands on crops, soil, or water. On crops Endosulfan usually breaks down in a few weeks. When released to soil attaches to soil particles. Near hazardous waste sites Endosulfan is usually found in soil. Some of the endosulfan in soil evaporates into air, and some breaks down in soil itself taking much time. It may be in soil for several years before it all breaks down. Rainwater can wash endosulfan that is attached to soil particles into surface water. Endosulfan does not dissolve easily in water. Hence in surface water it is attached to soil particles floating in the water or soil at the bottom. The small amounts of endosulfan that dissolve in water break down over time. Depending on the conditions in the water, endosulfan may break down within 1 day or it may take several months. From the surface water evaporates into air and breaks down. As it does not dissolve easily in water, only very small amount of endosulfan are found in groundwater. Animals that live in endosulfan-contaminated area can build up endosulfan in their bodies. The amount of endosulfan in their bodies may be several times greater than in the surrounding soil and water.

Breathing air containing contaminated with endosulfan, it can enter the body through lungs and then into the bloodstream. How much and how fast this will happens depends on the saturation level. Through contaminated food, water, or soil, it enters the body and passes from stomach into the bloodstream. However, studies in animals reveal that it passes slowly through the stomach into the body tissues while taken orally. Through contact it passes through the skin into the bloodstream. Studies in animals also show that when endosulfan is applied to the skin with no cuts wounds or infections, it passes slowly into the body tissues. But if there are cuts, wounds, infections or healed wound scars with tender skin it will pass in very. From waste sites, processing units or storage sites, the most likely way it enters human body is from skin contact or breathing contaminated dusts.

Exposure to very large amounts of endosulfan for short periods can cause adverse nervous system effects (such as hyperexcitability, tremors, andconvulsions) and death. As the brain controls the activity of the lungs and heart, lethal or near-lethal exposure results in failure of these organs. Other short-term, high-level exposures cause harmful effects on the stomach, blood,liver, and kidneys. In considerably longer exposures, there is possibility of the impairment of body's immune system. The kidneys, testes, and liver are affected by long term exposure to even low levels of endosulfan. The seriousness of these effects increases when exposed to higher concentration including damage to the genetic material within the cells. Some studies show that large amounts of endosulfan damage the testes. Pregnant animals given endosulfan by mouth had some offspring with low birth weight and length, and some with skeletal variations.

Like the widely banned pesticides DDT, chlordane and dieldrin,endosulfan is an organochlorine and as such, is persistent in the environment. Due to its ability to evaporate and travel long distances in the atmosphere, endosulfan has become one of the world’s most widespread pollutants. Within two days of spraying, up to 70% of endosulfan can volatize from leaf and soil surfaces, and can then be transported by wind over long distances. It has an estimated atmospheric half-life of 27 days (± 11 days), although this figure could be far higher, depending on air temperature. A further 2% of the sprayed chemical is carried off in surface run-off, while 1% remains in the soil. Therefore, around 73% of the applied pesticide leaves the site of application. The US EPA notes that, “Monitoring data and incident reports confirm that endosulfan is moving through aquatic and terrestrial food chains and that its use has resulted in adverse effects on the environment adjacent to and distant from its registered use sites”

The half-life of Endosulfan in water varies from 35-187 days under anaerobic conditions. The Stockholm Convention regards a chemical as being persistent in water if its half-life is greater than 2 months. Endosulfan is persistent in water under some conditions.

The Stockholm Convention regards a chemical as having the potential for long-range atmospheric transport if its half-life in air is greater than 2 days. Endosulfan has an atmospheric

half-life of 27 days (+ 11 days), at 75° C under experimental conditions. The much lower temperature in the trophosphere results in a much longer half-life in the air there.