Sharmaji,
Endosulfan has been widely used particularly in Kasargod District in Kerala,
to spray the Cashew plantations in the area, besides other crops.
About five years back, the visual media reported gory scenes of the people
there disabled by the pesticde, some crippled unable to walk, others at various
stages of suffering, many losing their breadwinners engaged in spraying/
handling the pesticide.
The State Govt. responded to the situation by forwarding these serious
complaints of loss and maiming of living vegetables in the district due to the
use of Endosulfan. A Committee of officers and Scientists appointed by the
Centre visited th area and gave a report that the afflictions were more due to
malnutririon and not due to the pesticides used!!
The pesticide industry is as powerful as the pharma lobby controlled by
multinationals,o would go to any length to intimidate and even eliminate the
people coming in their way through hired thugs.
Remember what happened to reports by Sunita Narain on the pesticide contents
in the soft drinks?
There should be a powerful movement against the irreversible damages being
done to environment in this Country by such indiscriminate use of toxic
chemicals, which are already banned in developed Countries.
"Dr.V.N. Sharma" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
Jharkhand Network | Jharkhand.org.in/network
A very interesting Editorial based on experience of personal threats for
working for Public Good. Read in the Link how Goons are a superior force
against the socially concious citizens.
http://www.downtoearth.org.in/editor.asp?foldername=20080615&filename=Editor&sec_id=2&sid=1
--
Dr.V.N.Sharma
'SLAPP'ed but will not submit
In the first week of April this year, a group of men came and stood
outside the Centre for Science and Environment (cse), New Delhi. They carried
placards with offensive slogans directed at me. We understood the protesters
were ostensibly from an ngo we believed was a front for the pesticide industry.
We also understood the picket to be the latest in a dangerous pesticide
industry mindgame.
Let me explain. For the past few years, the pesticide industry, represented by
its rich and powerful owners, has held press conferences across the country
slamming cses research on pesticide residues in food, in the blood of farmers
in Punjab and in the soil, water and food of diseased and deformed villagers of
Padre in Kerala. During this period, we have received dozens of legal notices
from this industry, threatening dire consequences. Every time we have replied
to these notices, stating the facts, there has never been a follow-up. Instead,
another notice for some other frivolous reason gets sent threatening dire
consequences. Initially, the industry targeted our research. The focus then
moved to usto csebefore settling on me. A year ago, they hit a real low when
they began circulating obscene cartoons of me that Rajju Shroff, owner of a
leading pesticide company, had drawn.
In all this time, even as we refused to give in to the threats, we also
respected their right to protest. This time, too, we decided to leave the
picket alone. Then, a few days into the protest, a journalist with a city
daily visited and recognised one of the protesters outside our gate. This was
not an employee of the aggrieved pesticide company or a protesting ngo, he
said. This man was a representative of a public relations company who had met
him, on behalf of biscuit manufacturers, to make the case that government
should allow processed food, instead of cooked hot meals, in the multi-crore
school meal programme.
We were puzzled. Surely, Indian industry was too proud or forthright to hire
protesters? Why would reputed public relations companies engage in dirty tricks
and intimidation? We knew this kind of thing happened in the us, where
corporations hired lobbyists and white collared goons. But was this now
happening in India? We decided to investigate.
When we checked with all known names in the public relations business, nobody
had heard of this companyMedia Expressions Consortium. Finally, when my
colleagues tracked it down to a small office based in a Mumbai suburb, a
sinister canister of worms leaked out. The company, we learnt, represented the
biggest of the pollutersthe plastic industry and pesticide industryas well as
others, like the biscuit manufacturers, to defend their interests. The company
boss proudly told my colleague he was out demonstrating in front of our office.
But in the same breath he told her he had nothing to do with the protest. We
realised why. His was a shadow affair. This was the new face of Indian
businessthe hidden lobbyist who could skillfully make out cases for clients in
different ways, from power-point presentations to physical protest, all on
hire, for a price.
Clearly this is now the toolkit of industry to deal with dissentto suppress
public opinion and to subvert decision-making via a fine public relations
makeover. If you dont believe me just consider how, in this same period, the
pesticide industry through its associations has filed countless cases against
activists and scientists, but with an important difference. These cases derive
from what is known in the us as slapp acronym for strategic lawsuits against
public participation. These are different because the corporation (or its
front organisation or lawyer) uses it not to get justice, but to threaten,
intimidate and gag. The cases are filed not against institutions that can
defend their interests but carefully target individuals and, in particular,
professionals who refuse to prostitute their science to suit industry. The
companies who file slapp cases rarely win in court, but make the defendants
spend a huge amount of time and money running to the courts to fight
the case. This harassment discourages others from petitioning government on
public issues. Industrys business is served.
A few years ago, the Pesticide Association of India now called the Crop Care
Federation of India sent Y S Mohana Kumar, the lone doctor in Padre, a strong
legal notice threatening massive damages. His crime? He had worked tirelessly
among villagers afflicted with terrible mental and physical ailments that
pesticide residue poisoning had caused, and had raised the issue publicly.
Padre is a village devastated by the spraying of endosulfan; every house has a
victim crying for justice. The industry continues to deny its shame. Instead,
it continues to threaten and abuse. The latest victim is a retired government
scientist who undertook the research that indicted pesticides for the ailments
in poisoned Padre. Till she worked with the Ahmedabad-based National Institute
of Occupational Health, industry and its agents did nothing. But the moment she
retired, the attacks began. She has already received two legal notices, and
more threats, we know, will follow. Industry wants to
ensure that others learn from her exampledo not dare to do science that
works for public good.
Even as I write this, I know that the dirty tricks department of the pesticide
industry is working over-time to find innovative ways to attack. Last week they
decided to up the anteto target my house so that they can harass my 80-year
old mother. But we all know there is too much at stake here to let a few sticks
and stones break our bones.
