Endosulfan : Main Facts

FACT SHEET OF ENDOSULFAN

1. Endosulfan is an off-patent organochlorine insecticide and acaricide. This colourless solid has emerged as a highly controversial agrichemical[1] due to its acute toxicity, potential for bioaccumulation, and role as an endocrine disruptor. Banned in more than 63 countries, including the European Union, Australia and New Zealand, and other Asian and West African nations,[2] and being phased out in the United States,[3][4] Brazil[5] and Canada.[6] It is still used extensively in many other countries including India and China.
2. Because of its threats to the environment, a global ban on the use and manufacture of endosulfan is being considered under the Stockholm Convention.[7]
3. Because of its threats to the environment, a global ban on the useEndosulfan has been used in agriculture around the world to control insect pests including whiteflys, aphids, leafhoppers, Colorado potato beetles and cabbage worms.[8]
4. Because of its unique mode of action, it is useful in resistance management; however, because it is non-specific, it can negatively impact populations of beneficial insects.[9] It is, however, considered to be moderately toxic to honey bees,[10] and it is less toxic to bees than organophosphate insecticides and manufacture of endosulfan is being considered under the Stockholm Convention.[7]
5. History of commercialization and regulation
Early 1950s: Endosulfan was developed.
1954: Hoechst AG (now Bayer CropScience) won USDA approval for the use of endosulfan in the United States.[15]
2000: Home and garden use in the United States was terminated by agreement with the EPA.[11]
2002: The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service recommended that endosulfan registration should be cancelled,[16] and the EPA determined that endosulfan residues on food and in water pose unacceptable risks. The agency allowed endosulfan to stay on the US market, but imposed restrictions on its agricultural uses.[11]
2007: International steps were taken to restrict the use and trade of endosulfan. It is recommended for inclusion in the Rotterdam Convention on Prior Informed Consent,[17] and the European Union proposed inclusion in the list of chemicals banned under the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants. Such inclusion would ban all use and manufacture of endosulfan globally.[7] Meanwhile, the Canadian government announced that endosulfan was under consideration for phase-out,[18] and Bayer CropScience voluntarily pulled its endosulfan products from the U.S. market[19] but continues to sell the products elsewhere.[20]
2008: In February, environmental, consumer, and farm labor groups including the Natural Resources Defense Council,[21] Organic Consumers Association, and the United Farm Workers[22] called on the U.S. EPA to ban endosulfan. In May, coalitions of scientists,[23] environmental groups, and arctic tribes asked the EPA to cancel endosulfan,[24] and in July a coalition of environmental and workers groups filed a lawsuit against the EPA challenging its 2002 decision to not ban it.[25] In October, the Review Committee of the Stockholm Convention moved endosulfan along in the procedure for listing under the treaty,[26] while India blocked its addition to the Rotterdam Convention.[27]
2009: The Stockholm Convention's Persistent Organic Pollutants Review Committee (POPRC) agreed that endosulfan is a persistent organic pollutant and that "global action is warranted", setting the stage of a global ban.[28] New Zealand banned endosulfan.[29]
2010: The POPRC nominated endosulfan to be added to the Stockholm Convention at the Conference of Parties (COP) in April 2011, which would result in a global ban.[30] The EPA announced that the registration of endosulfan in the U.S. will be cancelled[4] and that it is in negotiations with Makhteshim Agan of North America to phase the organochlorine out.[31] Australia banned the use of the chemical.[32]

6. Health effectsThe Food and Agriculture Organization of United Nations has concluded that long-term intake of residues of endosulfan from uses that have been considered by the JMPR is unlikely to present a public health concern.[33] Endosulfan is one of the most toxic pesticides on the market today, responsible for many fatal pesticide poisoning incidents around the world.[34] Endosulfan is also a xenoestrogen—a synthetic substance that imitates or enhances the effect of estrogens—and it can act as an endocrine disruptor, causing reproductive and developmental damage in both animals and humans. Whether endosulfan can cause cancer is debated
7. Researchers studying children from an isolated village in Kasargod Ditrict, Kerala, India have linked endosulfan exposure to delays in sexual maturity among boys. Endosulfan was the only pesticide applied to cashew plantations in the hills above the village for 20 years and had contaminated the village environment. The researchers compared the villagers to a control group of boys from a demographically similar village that lacked a history of endosulfan pollution. Relative to the control group, the exposed boys had high levels of endosulfan in their bodies, lower levels of testosterone, and delays in reaching sexual maturity. Birth defects of the male reproductive system including cryptorchidism were also more prevalent in the study group.
8. Endosulfan is subject to long range atmospheric transport, i.e. it can travel long distances from where it is used. For example, a 2008 report by the National Park Service found that endosulfan commonly contaminates air, water, plants and fish of national parks in the U.S. Most of these parks are far from areas where endosulfan is used.[47] Endosulfan has also been detected in dust from the Sahara Desert
9. India the world's largest user of endosulfan,[8] and a major producer with three companies—Excel Crop Care, H.I.L., and Coromandal Fertilizers—producing 4,500 tonnes annually for domestic use and another 4,000 tonnes for export.[50]
10. In 2001, in Kerala, India, endosulfan spraying became suspect when linked to a series of abnormalities noted in local children.[51] Initially endosulfan was banned, yet under pressure from the pesticide industry this ban was largely revoked. The situation there has been called "next in magnitude only to the Bhopal gas tragedy." [52] In 2006, in Kerala, compensation of Rs 50,000 was paid to the next kin of each of 135 people who were identified as having died as a result of endosulfan use. Chief Minister V. S. Achuthanandan also gave an assurance to people affected by poisoning, "that the government would chalk out a plan to take care of treatment, food and other needs of the affected persons and that its promise of rehabilitation of victims would be honoured."[53]
11. Mrs. Vibhavari Dave, local leader and Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA), from Bhavnagar, Gujarat voiced her concerns on the impact of ban of Endosulfan on families and workers of Bhavnagar. She was a part of the delegation with Bhavnagar MP, Rajendra Singh Rana, which submitted a memorandum to the district collector’s office to withdraw the NIOH report calling for ban of Endosulfan.[57][58] The Pollution Control Board of the Government of Kerala, prohihited the use of Endosulfan in the state of Kerala on 10 November 2010.[59] On February 18, 2011, the Karnataka Government followed suit and suspended the use of Endosulfan for a period of 60 days in the state.[60
12. Prominent social worker Vandana Shiva accused Sharad Pawar is not banning endosulfan because he is a corrupted minister. Even Public may doubt his sincerity considering his past corruption charges and the fact that endosulfan has banned in 63 countries including European Union, Australia and New Zealand.
13. A study done by the Government of Gujarat in the interest of farmers, people and industry of Gujarat. The highlight of this report is the farmer exposure study based on analysis of their blood reports for residues of endosulfan and the absence of any residues. This corroborates the lack of residues in worker exposure studies.[62]
14. Australia banned endosulfan October 12, 2010.[76][77][78] The ban included a two year phase-out for stock of five endosulfan containing products.[76]
15. Australia had, in 2008, announced endosulfan would not be banned.[79] Citing New Zealand's ban, the Australian Greens called for "zero tolerance" of endosulfan residue on food.[2] Endosulfan contamination from nearby farm(s) is suspected to have caused a spate of two-headed fish at a fish farm in the Noosa River
16. Some presume that India's fate will be akin to that of Australia: first refusing to Ban, and then doing it after a lot of loss to the mankind and nature.