NEW DELHI: On the eve of the first year anniversary of the Midday Meal (MDM) tragedy in Bihar's Saran district, a new report released by India for Safe Food (IFSF) has found that that government is not acting decisively against pesticides to prevent such cases in the future.
On July 16, 2013 23 children died in Saran district school due to pesticide poisoning after consuming tainted food cooked for them under the MDM scheme.
The report called "Serving Death? A case for safe food for children in India" compiled information related to toxic effects of pesticides and shows that children are particularly vulnerable to the adverse impact of pesticides and calls for toxin-free food in all schemes meant for children.
"The Bihar incident is not the first such incident. There are reports of other incidents of food poisoning of school meals in the past including due to pesticide spray drift. Pesticide poisonings have been rampant, unacknowledged and not-acted-upon including in the case of adults and including when it comes to acute poisoning, while there is no good assessment of the situation with chronic poisoning. One of the reasons for the current sorry state of affairs is the faulty regulatory framework that we have in India. The government should recast the Pesticides Management Bill pending in the Parliament to ensure safety to human health and environment," said Kavitha Kuruganti of Alliance for Sustainable and Holistic Agriculture.
Rachna Arora of IFSF said, "We are jeopardizing the well being of future generations by ignoring warning bells that have been ringing for a long time. The Integrated Child Development Services and MDM guidelines issued after the Bihar tragedy do not even mention the risks emanating from pesticides despite Monocrotophos being nailed as the reason for the poisoning! No action has been taken on FAO's recommendations to speed up the withdrawal of dangerous pesticides."
G P I Singh, a public health expert, said, "World over there is an increasing realization that children are more susceptible to the harmful effects of pesticides. Children are being 'born polluted' as studies have shown. We have a special duty to protect our children from the harmful effects of pesticides."
The report recommended improvement of regulatory mechanism for pesticides and takes immediate steps to follow FAO recommendations to withdraw highly hazardous pesticides, in addition to using the opportunity of the pending Pesticides Management Bill to address lacunae in regulation, increase investment in chemical free farming and ensure pesticide-free safe food for children in all government schemes.
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