Killer pesticide claims two more lives

mangalore: suspected endosulfan poisoning has claimed two more lives in padre village last week. laxmi (70), wife of koragappa rai, and vasantha (18), son of kunjappa naika, both residents of vaninagar in padre village, are the latest victims of the dreaded organochlorine compound, endosulfan. though there is no official confirmation of endosulfan-related deaths, the toll has been rising abnormally in padre and surrounding villages, where endosulfan is being sprayed, according to the villagers.laxmi was hale and healthy a few years back but all of a sudden she became a victim of parkinson's type of disease. when the correspondent met her a few months back, she was trembling and bedridden. her husband said after she developed the symptoms two years back, she was confined to bed. incidentally, all rai family members, who live on the periphery of the cashew plantation owned by plantation corporation of kerala (pck), have been the victims of one malady or the other. while the eldest son vomits blood often, their daughter yamuna is afflicted with physical disorders. only one of their sons is spared and the eldest daughter kamala is dead. vasantha's life, since he was one year old, had been a nightmare. his father recalled that while all the children of his age were walking, he was still crawling and slowly stated developing cns (central nervous system) related disorders. his misery came to an end last week. all these are said to be the ill-effects of organochlorine chemical endosulfan sprayed for eliminating tea mosquitoes in cashewnut plantations by using helicopters since the past 25 years. as the awareness spread, writ petitions were filed in the courts of kerala and finally the pck stopped spraying endosulfan. but the effects like cns-related disorders -- ranging from epilepsy to more serious mental retardation, cancer, skin disease, physical abnormality among children are surfacing. scientists and doctors say that long-term exposure to organochlorines like endosulfan lead to genetic mutations, cancer due to deformity of cells (usually breast cancer, prostrate cancer), cerebral palsy, vision impairment, stunted growth, impotency among other serious abnormalities. according to dr y.s. mohana kumar, who first published these abnormal cases in the `kerala medical journal' in 1997, says that since the past one decade, more than 51 persons have died of cancer, 38 have been the victims of cerebral palsy, 49 due to cns symptoms, 33 epileptic, 16 have visual disorders. he points out that such abnormal diseases, confined to a place are very rare. the reason could only be attributed to endosulfan, he asserts. these cases were found during a house-to-house visit by the doctor in muliyaru, bovikkana and periya. moreover, villagers say that their previous generation had never been afflicted by these diseases. doctors, however, point out that a thorough study was needed to establish to link the deaths to endosulfan. but they also add that organochlorines are slow poisons, the effects of which would not be evident immediately but are gradual. but with the kerala government not ready to ditch its cash crop agenda (cashew plantations) on the karnataka border, relief may be a mirage for these beleaguered villagers.