[Reader-list] edosulphan - global phaseout

[Ravi Agarwal]

India agrees to phase out pesticide endosulfanNEW DELHI: India has agreed to
phase out pesticide endosulfan. At the Geneva meet of the Stockholm
Convention, currently underway, India's concern for the need to identify
cost-effective and safe alternatives were accepted.

This means endosulfan will be listed in Annexe A of the Stockholm Convention
on Persistent Organic Pollutants but exemptions will allowed for crop-pest
combinations. It will allow India to continue to use this broad spectrum
pesticide.

Chemicals listed in the Annex A of the Convention are banned for production
and use due to the threat they pose to living beings, particularly the
environment.

This will not come as good news for the Left parties or the Kerala
government, both of which have been actively seeking an immediate
nation-wide ban on endosulfan.

All exemptions sought by India have been accepted. The listing in the Annexe
will take one year to be effective, and the exemptions are valid for five
years, with the provision for renewal for another five years. Thus, making
the time-frame for the global phase 11 years.

India's concern about the need to identify safe and cost effective
alternatives to facilitate phase out of endosulfan are also being addressed.
At the Geneva meet, the decision to include endosulfan in the Annexe will be
adopted along with a decision asking the Technical POP (Persistent Organic
Pollutants) Review Committee to undertake the work of identifying safe and
cost effective alternatives. The review committee will report to the
Conference of Parties.

This would mean that India can continue to use endosulfan as a broad
spectrum pesticide for at least 11 years. While New Delhi' agreeing to this
consensus formula will ease global pressure, it will not address the
domestic pressure to ban the use of this broad spectrum pesticide. "I
believe that the final outcome is a compromise we can live with and is
something that ensures enough room for us to manoeuvre," Environment
Minister Jairam Ramesh said.

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/politics/nation/india-agrees-to-phase-out-pesticide-endosulfan/articleshow/8113537.cms