Thrissur: Head of the department of entomology at Kerala Agricultural University has been served a show cause notice for writing a article in a popular Malayalam daily to counter the allegations from different quarters that experts in KAU had given the nod for aerial spraying of insecticide Endosulfan at cashew nut plantations in Kasargod and hence they need to be taken to task for the tragedy.
Dr K M Sreekumar says that he has put forth an argument citing data collected from different official sources that all the experts who studied the Endosulfan issue have failed to connect the ailments like that of hydrocephalus (diseases in which children are born with huge heads) to the aerial spraying of Endosulfan in plantations spread over 11 panchayats in Kasargod starting from 1981 to 2000. The argument of the professor in the article was that there were different diseases in the area and going by the data of disability censes, the number of affected persons with these diseases was same elsewhere.
“There are more than 6,700 victims and the reason for them suffering different ailments can’t be liked to Endosulfan. I have been raising this issue with the data and all documental evidences for several years now, but none in the university paid heed to me,” Dr Sreekumar said.
To prove something scientifically one need to come up with a finding and then published it in a well-known science journal.
“There is only a single journal suggesting that use of Endosulfan can cause issues related to secondary sexual characters, but here too, there was no link proving that it can cause ailments like hydrocephalus,” he added.
He says that as new pesticides need to emerge for specific use which could bring down considerably the use of them in quantity, it is his wish that Endosulfan needs to be replaced by other pesticides. But, the data and the documents did not give any logical conclusion that it caused the tragedy.
Dr K.P. Aravindan, former president of Kerala Sastra Sahitya Parishad who was also HoD of pathology at Kozhikode MCH has said Dr Sreekumar's arguments need to be countered by presenting scientific evidences.
“Serving him a showcause notice is not the way,” Mr Aravindan wrote on Facebook.
“I will give a reply to KAU officials after Onam vacation and I am confident that they will be satisfied with it,” Dr Sreekumar said.
KAU has said in the show cause letter that readers might take Dr Sreekumar’s personal opinion on the issue as that of KAU.
