India’s food chain continues to suffer from excessive toxicity, brought
on by the rampant and unrestrained use of pesticides. Official data were
released last week that showed nearly 18.7 per cent of samples tested –
samples of commonly consumed foods like vegetables, fruits, milk,
pulses, meat and spices – contained pesticide residues in varying
degrees. In over 2.6 per cent of the samples, the toxicity level was
higher than the permissible limits. The incidence of toxicity seems to
have nearly doubled when compared to similar studies in the past. Nor is
the problem confined to big cities, although Delhi and Mumbai are among
the worst hit: samples from small urban centres too have failed to pass
the safety test.
Earlier studies had shown that even drinking
water, beverages and soft drinks were not totally free of hazardous
chemicals. Worst of all, traces of banned or unapproved pesticides have
been found in commonly consumed foodstuffs. Clearly, regulation has
failed to check the circulation of prohibited chemicals and spurious
insecticides – substances which can be far more hazardous than the
permitted pesticides. Many of these harmful chemicals are feared to be
carcinogenic besides being injurious to the central nervous systems and
liver. A joint parliamentary committee(JPC) was set up in 2003 to go
into the safety standards for soft drinks, fruit juices and other
beverages. The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) came
into being after the report of this JPC. However, many of the useful
recommendations of this panel, including one concerning formulation of
standards for individual food items – rather than for vegetables, fruits
and others collectively as a group – have yet to be fully implemented.
The
problem is not that India uses too much pesticide. In fact, India’s
per-hectare consumption of plant protection chemicals is just a fraction
of that in developed countries. Yet the problem of toxicity is far more
serious here than elsewhere. The real cause is the improper and
indiscriminate use of pesticides by farmers. Most pesticide
manufacturers stress the necessary precautions to be observed while
using these hazardous chemicals; these include allowing a prescribed
time to elapse between spraying pesticide and harvesting the crop. This
is necessary to let the pesticide molecules degenerate. But these
essential precautions are often ignored by farmers in India. Many of
them, especially vegetable growers, dip their produce in chemical
solutions just before going to the wholesale markets – which they
believe will improve their appearance and assure them better prices. The
use of chemicals like calcium carbide to artificially ripen fruits like
bananas, papayas and mangoes also contaminates them. This can be curbed
only by educating India’s farmers on the safe use of pesticides.
Pesticide marketing also needs to be better regulated. Only registered
dealers who have some knowledge of pesticides and their safe use should
be allowed to do business. This is important because farmers usually
rely on the advice of pesticide sellers when it comes to plant
protection issues. The pesticide industry must be pushed to contribute
to this effort.
(Source: Editorial in Business Standard dated 08-10- 2015)
