Toxic tragedy: After endosulfan, tea growers use hazardous monocrotophos

Monocrotophos is used to kill mites that affect tea plants, but it equally debilitates the tea workers who spray the pesticides and also those who drink the toxin-laced tea.

Though the tea board officials restrict use of monocrotophos, it is available in the market for sale.

According to C. N. Nataraj, vice president of the Confederation of Indian Small Tea Growers’ Association, “Many tea growers use monocrotophos which is a refined form of endosulfan. This chemical is biodegradable. Estate workers, who inhale this chemical, would suffer respiratory illness in the long run.”

Scientists in Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) confirm that monocrotophos which kills the insecticide by affecting its nervous system will have a disastrous impact on humans who are exposed to it during spraying of chemicals.

Pesticide toxicology specialist and professor of Agricultural Entomology in the TNAU T.Manoharan said, “Monocrotophos will hit the nervous system of the insect and kill it as effective as Endosulfan. It will have similar impacts on estate workers who inhale the chemical when they spray it on plants. This will act like a slow poison. Headache and respiratory illness are common symptoms and prolonged exposure to these chemicals would affect nervous system.” He said that monocrotophos is yet to be banned in Tamil Nadu.

CSE director Sunita Naraian pointed out that chemicals which are banned by Central Insecticides Board Registration Committee (CIBRC) are recommended for usage in Tamil Nadu. “CIBRC is a government body that regulates the usage of pesticides. We found that among eight major pesticides used for tea in Tamil Nadu five of them are not registered by CIBRC. Several tea estate firms jeopardize our health by using harmful pesticides,” she told DC.

However, there is a glimmer of hope from the Tea Board of India. R.Ambalavanan, executive director of Tea Board of India (Coonoor) said that 22 officials are being trained to inspect the tea gardens across South India to check the usage of banned pesticides in estates. “Our officials will visit the tea estates to verify the pesticides used there. Our inspections will begin within three months,” he said.

The aroma of tea wafts across the hilly hamlets of Gudalur in Nilgiris district, tainted somewhat by teagrowers’ sobs and their tragic tales of children suffering from birth deformities due to the suspected liberal use of Endosulfan and other pesticides in the tea gardens.

Despite being confined to beds and wheel chairs, these children wish to learn. But where are the teachers? The Centrally-sponsored Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA) has appointed teachers to educate these disabled children, but they are burdened with visiting regular schools and are unable to attend to bed-ridden special children. They give away books and uniforms to the children, but do not visit them.

Six year old Fathimathu Shuhaila and her elder sister Safna Jasmine (10), both differently abled children, are very eager to wear their school uniforms. But they are yet to meet their teacher so far though they were enrolled in the school records two years ago.

The government school authorities told their father, Sainudheen (40), that the two girls would study like other normal children with the help of a teacher, who would visit them. “Shuhaila suffers a rare disease. Her bones are brittle and she should be handled with extreme care. We discourage local children to play with Shuhaila as they may playfully cause a fracture. Jasmine’s growth is stunted and she falls ill frequently,” he said.

The father said that Shuhaila and Jasmine were happy when they were enrolled for studies. “As per school records, Jasmine is in Class 4 and Shuhaila in Class 2. But no teacher visits them to teach lessons. They watch TV all the time,” says Sainudheen, an estate worker at Rockwood estate area. SSA teachers, complain they are burdened with work in regular schools.

“Only five teachers are available in the Gudulur and Bandalur. They have to teach over 200 disabled children in regular schools. More than 50 children are enrolled for home-based education. And two teachers are on leave now,” an official said.

Mohammed Arshad, 14, looks and acts like a five-year-old kid. The boy suffers from both mental and physical illness. He is confined to the bed and cannot identify anybody except his mother Zenith.

“He can only cry when he needs something. He has never addressed me as ‘amma’,” says Zenith, 32. Her husband, Umar, had spent long hours spraying pesticides in the estates in Pakkanna area in the Nilgiris. The couple strongly suspects that the exposure to pesticides affected their child. "This is just like what had happened in many families in Kasargode in Kerala due to the use of endosulfan," said Umar.

Many mothers with differently abled children in the Nilgiris have been demanding that the government ban endosulfan and other harmful pesticides to save at least the future generations. Zenith and Umar said that they often suffered respiratory illness and nausea as they lived close to the tea estate.

“We are supposed to be living in the lovely Nilgiris, a region seen in movies, but actually, we breathe mostly toxic air throughout the day. We have have got used to this, but it is shattering to see our children getting affected with physical and mental disabilities,” Zenith said.

The government gives a monthly pension of Rs 1, 000 to Arshad, but his parents said that this was hardly enough. “We were carrying him in our arms to the hospital, but now he has grown. Hiring a vehicle costs us Rs 1000 for each trip, so we have limited our hospital trips to just the emergencies”, said Umar, helplessness and anguish writ large on his face.

Nellacotta resident Rajula Nasar, 34, is another distressed mother, pleading for a ban on the use of pesticides in tea gardens. Her son, Haseeb, is mentally challenged and can turn violent, seeking attention, which is why Rajula avoids visiting friends and relatives. "When the Kerala government is able to ban Endosulfan and other dangerous chemicals, why is our government not doing so too?”

Rajula has to travel 18 km to take her son to the Gudalur government hospital. “There are so many differently abled children in our region. The government must appoint physiotherapists in the primary health centres to treat these special kids,” she said.

CPI (M) district committee secretary R.Badri said that his party had held a meeting in 2012 to discuss the impact of pesticides on the people of the Nilgiris, particularly children with birth deformities. “Several families have been affected. We gave our recommendations to the government. We sought a probe to find the impact of pesticides on the physical and mental health of children,” Badri told to DC.