NIOH Report on Endosulfan - Key Issues

Key Issues – NIOH Report on Endosulfan:

Key Issues – NIOH Report on Endosulfan

Endosulfan Registration:

Endosulfan Registration Endosulfan is a sulfurous acid ester of chlorinated cyclic diol and was registered in India by Registration Committee under the Insecticide Act after considering all the data on chemistry, residues, bioefficacy and toxicology data including acute oral and dermal toxicity, skin irritation, carcinogenicity, mutageneicity, tetragenecity in the country.

Expert Committees:

Expert Committees Several committees have been constituted by Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Govt. of India to review the use of Endosulfan: Dr S N Banerjee Committee (ex-plant protection advisor, Govt. of India) Dr R B Singh Committee (Director IARI) Kerala Agricultural University Committee (appointed by Vice Chancellor, KAU) Mr. Achyutan Committee (Noted Environmentalist) Dr O P Dubey Committee (ex-Additional Director General, Plant Protection, ICAR) Dr C D Mayee Committee (Agricultural Commissioner) Dr Y K Gupta Committee (Professor & Head of Pharmacology, AIIMS ) The various committees considered scientific data on chemistry, bioefficiacy , carcinogenecity, mutagenecity, tetragenecity, epidimological studies and reports from FAO, WHO, information from Agricultural Universities and from ICAR institutes

Expert Committee Findings:

Expert Committee Findings The expert committees noted that there is no link established in the use of Endosulfan and the health problems reported in Padre village in Kerala and recommended the continued use of Endosulfan as per the provisions of the Insecticides Act .

Comments on NIOH Study:

Comments on NIOH Study The committees have reported that several studies were conducted in establishing the levels of endosulfan and its metabolites in biological samples, soil and water. The committees had observed that for detecting low levels of residue use of highly sophisticated instruments and high class expertise is required. The studies were not done using such instruments The committee indicated that confirmation of Endosulfan Residues by GCMS/LCMS is required as per international norms. It is likely that different molecules with structural similarity may appear in the same peak due to similar retention time.

International Practices:

International Practices In the meeting of CODEX committee of Pesticide Residues held at The Hague, Netherlands in May 2002 Good Laboratory Practices on Pesticide Residue Analysis it was emphasised that when analysis are performed for monitoring on enforcement purposes it is especially important that confirmation data should be generated before reporting data on residues of pesticides.

Flaws of NIOH Report:

Flaws of NIOH Report The committees which reviewed the NIOH study on Endosulfan did not find any reports where such confirmation was done. In absence of confirmation the residues of Endosulfan reported by NIOH cannot be accepted. Besides the NIOH study has also reported Endosulfan residues far below the minimum limit of detection of GC-ECD.

Recent Important Studies:

Recent Important Studies Recent Monitoring Study by National Project on Monitoring of Ministry of Agriculture above 15,000 samples of fruits and vegetables have been analysed for Endosulfan residues and in almost all the samples residues of Endosulfan were well below the Maximum Residue Limits (MRL) Endosulfan can be used on fruits and vegetables without fear of residues

Conclusion:

Conclusion There is no health effect on exposure to Endosulfan. The call for a ban on Endosulfan is not justified on a scientific basis.

Presented By::

Presented By: Rakesh Sethi – 09 Ankita Kapadia – 14 Maithili Prabhakar - 24

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