State will observe April 25 as Anti-endosulfan Day Mass pledge in all districts on Monday 81 countries have banned endosulfan The Cabinet on Wednesday decided to send an all-party delegation to the Centre to press for India's support to the proposal for global ban on endosulfan at the conference of parties of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Health Minister P.K. Sreemathy will head the delegation which will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh...

Call for total ban on endosulfan Asks Centre to join international consensus NFIW members stage protest in New Delhi The non-governmental organisation ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA) has urged the Centre to ban the pesticide endosulfan immediately. Indiscriminate use of the chemical in cashew plantations in Kasaragod district and adjoining areas for several years has reportedly caused side-effects, in alarming proportions, to the local people, leaving many with deformities and genetic disorders. The issue has triggered...

The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) has asked the Kerala government to expedite relief measures in the form of financial and medical assistance to victims affected by the indiscriminate use of pesticide Endolsulfan, particularly in Kasaragod district. The commission directed the State government to make use of the services of a charitable trust which had volunteered to set up special schools and hospitals for endosulfan victims. The NHRC held a meeting here...

Conference of parties to Stockholm Convention begins in Geneva on April 25 The Kerala government will press the Centre to adopt a stand in favour of a global ban on the production and use of endosulfan at a conference of parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants beginning in Geneva on April 25. Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said here on Monday that he would soon write to the Centre demanding...

The world will be watching India as the conference of parties to the Stockholm Convention meet in Geneva from April 25 to 29 to discuss, among other things, a global ban on the pesticide endosulfan. India was the only member country to take a stand against the ban at the Sixth Meeting of the Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee to the Convention that recommended the ban last year. Domestic opposition to India's...