Endosulfan ban: PM not gives assurance

New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Friday did not gave an assurance on banning endosulfan to an all-party delegation from Kerala, led by Health and Social Welfare Minister P.K. Sreemathi. PM said that the Centre would await the report of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR) before deciding further on the request to ban Endosulfan nationwide. In this when the delegates asked PM to impose a ban till the report comes, PM reminded the delegates that the Kerala government had already banned the pesticide in 2005 and a whole nation ban needs the supporr of other states. P K Sreemathi, justifying the need for banning Endosulfan at the all-India level, told journalists that the delegation pointed out to the Prime Minister that there was enough evidence from the experience of Kasaragod to prove that the pesticide would cause irreparable damage to the environment and human beings exposed to it. An earlier study of the ICMR had proved this and 'we strongly believe that there is no need for dragging on the matter in the name of further study.'

The 13-member delegation comprised Kerala Water Resources Minister N.K. Premachandran, Devaswom Minister Kadannapally Ramachandran, Forests and Housing Minister Benoy Viswom and Transport Minister Jose Thettayil; C.T. Ahamed Ali and A.K. Saseendran (IUML); Thalekunnil Basheer (Congress); P.C. Thomas (Kerala Congress-AMG); V. Muraleedharan (BJP), Joy Abraham (Kerala Congress M), A.N. Rajan Babu (JSS) and Dr. Varghese George (Socialist Janata (Democratic).







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