15 Die After Eating Prasadam Contaminated With Toxic Insecticide

Monochrotophos has killed before, as recently as 2017.

Representational image of a bottle of insecticide containing Monocrotophos.

(Photo Courtesy: Poorvi Kulkarni)

Around 100 devotees at a temple in Karnataka's Chamarajanagar district consumed contaminated prasadam and had to be hospitalised. According to The News Minute (TNM), 15 of them have died. Eighty birds have also died in that area.

Recent reports suggest that the substance the prasadam was contaminated with is an insecticide called Monocrotophos. According to TNM, authorities are probing how the insecticide got into the prasadam.

Monocrotophos has been classified as "highly hazardous" by World Health Organization.

Monochrotophos has killed before, even as recently as in 2017, when a large number of farmers died in the cotton belt in Maharashtra, reported The News Minute.

In 2013, the mid-day meal served in a school in Bihar was contaminated with Monocrotophos. Twenty-three schoolchildren – aged between four and twelve years – died.

The Anupam Verma committee was set up by the government in 2015 to review some of the pesticides, including Monocrotophos.

Noting that Monocrotophos was being misused, the committee asked for specific studies on Monocrotophos to be submitted.

“The Certificate of Registration of technical and its formulation deemed to be invalid w.e.f. from 1st January, 2018 if studies as recommended by the Expert Committee is not submitted by December 2017," the committee had warned.

However, according to TNM, the Indian industry did not submit the reports that it had been asked to submit.

According to TNM:

“The Indian agro chemical industry is the fourth largest in the world valued at USD 4.1 billion and expected to increase to USD 8.1 billion by 2025, according to the latest FICCI report. But neither has the government accepted international data on the dangers of Monocrotophos, nor are new studies being conducted in India.”

The pesticide industry does not provide accurate data due to the conflict of interest. Researchers and scientists are intimidated and defamation suits slapped against them, says the TNM report.

Licenced in 1972, Monocrotophos is approved to be used only in cotton, paddy, maize, Bengal gram, green gram, pea, red gram, sugarcane, citrus, mango, coconut, coffee and cardamom crops. However, according to TNM, government institutions like Indian Agriculture Research Institute (IARI) un-selectively use it on fruits and vegetables. Studies conducted by IARI itself have found very high residue of Monocrotophos in vegetables.

The WHO, in it's review, pointed out that the argument that there is no alternative to the insecticide is flawed because a number of countries like Australia, China, those in the European Union, Indonesia, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, the United States of America and Vietnam have banned its use.

“Leading Asian countries have banned the use of Monocrotophos because of unacceptable health risks, but in India, Monocrotophos continues to be produced, used and exported. The perception that Monocrotophos is cheap and necessary have prevented the product from being taken off the market. Urgent action is thus needed to reduce the availability of and the demand for highly hazardous pesticides, as recommended by WHO and FAO (42).”  

(With inputs from The News Minute.)