Ten-member Central team holds talks with doctors
KASARAGOD: Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Director-General Viswa Mohan Katoch has said that steps will be initiated to mitigate the plight of endosulfan victims and their families.
The authorities would take steps within two months to address the health hazards faced by the victims and submit a draft report to the officials concerned,
Centre for Science and Environment (CSE) has welcomed today’s Supreme Court order banning the use, sale, production and export of endosulfan with immediate effect. This landmark judgment comes on the heels of India’s grudging acceptance at the Stockholm Convention that endosulfan is a serious health hazard and that it should be banned.
Thalidomide was a widely used drug in the late 1950s and early 1960s for the treatment of nausea in pregnant women. It became apparent in the 1960s that thalidomide treatment resulted in severe birth defects in thousands of children. Though the use of thalidomide was banned in most countries at that time, thalidomide proved to be a useful treatment for leprosy and later, multiple myeloma. In rural areas of the world that lack extensive medical surveillance initiatives, thalidomide treatment of pregnant women with leprosy has continued to cause malformations.
During the years prior to the turn of the century, scientific and medical attention for genetic disorders was mainly focused on understanding rare single-gene disorders, such as Huntington's disease, Duchenne muscular dystrophy, and cystic fibrosis (CF), as well as chromosomal abnormalities. The medical specialty of clinical genetics was established in the 1980s and 1990s in many European countries to diagnose these kinds of rare disorders and to counsel patients and families.
Like Kerala’s Kasaragod, neighbouring Dakshina Kannada is bearing the brunt of spraying of endosulfan. While Kasaragod grabbed media spotlight and Kerala banned the pesticide, victims in Karnataka are still struggling for recognition.
Kerala government has been pressing the Centre to impose a country-wide ban on endosulfan. But its own track reocrd hasn't been impressive. The ban on endosulfan in Kerala has proved ineffective and the pesticide is being smuggled in the state. A recent survey shows more children are falling victim, Down To Earth reports.
Bisphenol A (BPA), a well-known endocrine disruptor, is highly glucuronidated in the liver, and the resultant BPA-glucuronide (BPA-GA) is excreted primarily into bile. However, in rodents, prenatal exposure to low doses of BPA can adversely affect the fetus, despite the efficient drug-metabolizing systems of the dams. The transport mechanisms of BPA from mother to fetus are unknown.
