The Hindu : Other States / Punjab News : Residues of `cocktail of pesticides' found in Punjab villagers

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Jun 08, 2005

Other States

Other States - Punjab

Residues of `cocktail of pesticides' found in Punjab villagers

— PTI

SHOCKING DISCOVERIES: The Centre for Science and Environment director, Sunita Narain, addressing a press conference in Chandigarh on Tuesday.

CHANDIGARH: Terming it as a "wake-up call'', a study by Centre for Science and Environment, the Delhi-based premier research and advocacy organisation, has found "very high levels" of pesticide residues in human blood samples taken from some Punjab villages. "The study tested 20 randomly selected blood samples from four villages -- Mahi Nangal, Jajjal and Balloh in Bathinda district and Dher in Ropar district. Each sample, which was tested using an internationally accepted methodology, was found to contain 6-13 different pesticides,'' CSE director Sunita Narain told a press conference here today.

The recent study conducted by the Centre's Pollution Monitoring Laboratory claims to have found levels of certain persistent older generation pesticides called organochlorines (OCs). ``The levels of OCs in the samples were found astounding: 15-605 times higher than those found in blood samples of people in the United States, tested by the US Centre for Disease Control Prevention in its report of 2003. The levels of lindane, a restricted pesticide in India, were shockingly high at 605 times than those found in US population. The levels of DDT were 188 times higher,'' said the Director of the CSE, which shot into prominence after it made public its study on bottled water and pesticide presence in the soft drinks couple of years back.

Narain said the study detected hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH) in all the blood samples and DDT in 95 per cent of the samples taken.

Asked why CSE had chosen Punjab for the study, Narain said that anecdotal reports of high incidence of cancer had been coming from certain areas of the state for the past few years. Narain said that CSE does not claim that the ``cocktail of pesticides'' or the contamination found in the blood samples was leading to a particular disease among the people of the state, but stressed that ``we have found that they are much higher than the safe limits''.

``The study is one of the first in India to test for organophosphorous pesticides (OPs), far more toxic than OCs, in human blood. These were found in equally high levels. Industry claims that these pesticides are not persistent and will degrade quickly. But the supposedly low-persistent OP pesticide monocrotophos was detected in 75 per cent of the blood samples, while chlorpyrifos was present in 85 per cent of the samples,'' she said.

She claimed that the average levels of monocrotophos in the Punjab blood samples (0.095 ppm) were found to be four times higher than the short-term exposure limit for humans set by the WHO and Food and Agricultural Organisation.

``The presence of OPs in blood is especially worrying. OPs touted by industry as non-persistent and degradable, are much more toxic than the previously used OC pesticides like DDT. The CSE analysis points out that while blood samples seem to be already contaminated with high levels of older OC pesticides, newer OP pesticides are now adding to the body's burden,'' she said.

She said that when it comes to pesticide usage, Punjab's case was not unique, ``but what we have detected in parts of the State should act as a wake-up call for other states in the country''. -- PTI

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Other States

News Update

Stories in this Section

Residues of `cocktail of pesticides' found in Punjab villagers