-The Hindu   Prolonged aerial spraying Endosulfan in the State-owned cashew estates claimed two more lives in the district. Silverster Manera, 45, a resident of Enamkudal near Badiyadukka, and T.K. Mani, 69, of Kallar village near Rajapuram, who had been undergoing treatment for diseases suspected to have been caused by the pesticide, died on Thursday, sources said. Family members of Mandera lamented that the patient did not get adequate medical treatment . ...

It is the improper mode of application, violating the law and regulations, that is responsible for the apparent adverse toxic effects of endosulfan. FROM a scientific perspective, an extremely pertinent question in the endosulfan story is why adverse health effects similar to those seen in the villages of Kasaragod district in Kerala have not been reported from other parts of the country where the pesticide is used in much larger...

-The Hindu   The government has approved the recommendations of the expert committee formed to suggest alternatives to the pesticides banned by it recently. The government asked Kerala Agricultural University to conduct study on the quality and utility of the alternatives, recommended on an interim basis, and examine whether better alternatives were available. The expert committee recommended ten pesticides in lieu of carbofuran which is used against certain pests in paddy and other...

While, the threats of a nuclear fall-out, borne out of a tragedy that happened in the Fakushima Nuke Plant in Japan, started a debate about the positives and negatives of nuclear energy. The media completely ignored the protests and the cries that were being carried out (in fact, for the last 10 to 15 years) in Northern Kerala as well as Southern Karnataka to ban the Pesticide Endosulfan. Perhaps, after the...

‘Human life is the paramount consideration' Observing that Right to life is a paramount consideration, the Supreme Court on Friday banned the manufacture, sale and use of pesticide endosulfan in the country for eight weeks. A three-Judge Bench of Chief Justice of India (CJI)S.H. Kapadia and Justices K.S. Radhakrishnan and Swatanter Kumar, in a brief order, said: “Keeping in mind various judgments of this court under Article 21 [right to life and...