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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | On 1st anniversary of Bihar midday meal tragedy, new report warns of future mishaps -Manash Pratim Gohain

On 1st anniversary of Bihar midday meal tragedy, new report warns of future mishaps -Manash Pratim Gohain

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published Published on Jul 17, 2014   modified Modified on Jul 17, 2014
-The Times of India


NEW DELHI: On the eve of the first year anniversary of the Midday Meal (MDM) tragedy in Bihar's Saran district, a new report released by India for Safe Food (IFSF) has found that that government is not acting decisively against pesticides to prevent such cases in the future.

On July 16, 2013 23 children died in Saran district school due to pesticide poisoning after consuming tainted food cooked for them under the MDM scheme.

The report called "Serving Death? A case for safe food for children in India" compiled information related to toxic effects of pesticides and shows that children are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impact of pesticides and calls for toxin-free food in all schemes meant for children.

"The Bihar incident is not the first such incident. There are reports of other incidents of food poisoning of school meals in the past including due to pesticide spray drift. Pesticide poisonings have been rampant, unacknowledged and not-acted-upon including in the case of adults and including when it comes to acute poisoning, while there is no good assessment of the situation with chronic poisoning. One of the reasons for the current sorry state of affairs is the faulty regulatory framework that we have in India. The government should recast the Pesticides Management Bill pending in the Parliament to ensure safety to human health and environment," said Kavitha Kuruganti of Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture.

Rachna Arora of IFSF said, "We are jeopardizing the well being of future generations by ignoring warning bells that have been ringing for a long time. The Integrated Child Development Services and MDM guidelines issued after the Bihar tragedy do not even mention the risks emanating from pesticides despite Monocrotophos being nailed as the reason for the poisoning! No action has been taken on FAO's recommendations to speed up the withdrawal of dangerous pesticides."

G P I Singh, a public health expert, said, "World over there is an increasing realization that children are more susceptible to the harmful effects of pesticides. Children are being 'born polluted' as studies have shown. We have a special duty to protect our children from the harmful effects of pesticides."

The report recommended improvement of regulatory mechanism for pesticides and takes immediate steps to follow FAO recommendations to withdraw highly hazardous pesticides, in addition to using the opportunity of the pending Pesticides Management Bill to address lacunae in regulation, increase investment in chemical free farming and ensure pesticide-free safe food for children in all government schemes.

Some past incidents

* In July 2002, 32 school children less than 12 years of age developed symptoms of severe acute poisoning in the village of Karinjakunnu in Kottathara Panchayat of Wayanad district in Kerala. These children were affected by Phorate used on a banana plantation close to their school

* In July 2006, a group of school students and other villagers in a village in Phillaur, Jalandhar district of Punjab were affected. The reason was discovered to be phorate, used in a nearby sugarcane field

* In September 2010, a wire service news report carried in various media channels reported that over 100 students had fallen ill in Borboruah tea garden in Dibrugarh district in Assam, due to food poisoning

* In West Bengal in 2005, 30 children fell ill due to pesticides spread in the agricultural field adjacent to the school, which had caused food poisoning

* May 22 2011, a three-year old child of Kauni village in Muktsar district is reported to have been admitted in a hospital after he consumed some pesticide-laced eatable in the house.

* In October 2011, a boy of Safdipur village is reported to have died after drinking pesticides-mixed water from the water tank of his farmhouse


The Times of India, 16 July, 2014, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/On-1st-anniversary-of-Bihar-midday-meal-tragedy-new-report-warns-of-future-mishaps/articleshow/38458331.cms


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