The Centre has sought the Supreme Court’s permission to use the available stock of the banned pesticide endosulfan for agricultural purpose on the ground that incinerating it will cost the exchequer Rs. 210 crore.

“The cost of disposal of the live stock of endosulfan by incineration shall be more than Rs. 210.82 crore, whereas phasing out will not only result in saving this huge amount on disposal but will also save the product (stock) worth Rs. 31.36 lakh, which will contribute to increased crop production,” the Agriculture Ministry told the court in an affidavit.

Central government’s affidavit before Supreme Court on endosulfan

Environmentalists in Kerala’s Idukki district see a grand design in the Central government’s affidavit before the Supreme Court that seeks to allow the sale of endosulfan in the country except in Kerala and Karnataka. The ban in Kerala, they aver, will not be effective if the pesticide is freely available in neighbouring Tamil Nadu. They point out that in the border district of Idukki, where cardamom is grown in large scales, highly toxic (red-labelled) pesticides are widely used even after their ban.

Codex Commission agrees on better standards on many food items exported by India, such as nuts, spices and seafood

The Codex Alimentarius Commission, jointly run by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization, for food safety, has recently agreed on a new set of regulations — including the maximum level of melamine in the liquid milk formula for babies — to protect the health of consumers across the world. Other measures adopted include new food safety standards on seafood, melons, dried figs, nuts and spices and food labelling.

“It is our responsibility to identify the real endosulfan victims and include them in the list. The relief provided by the government should reach the original victims of the tragedy,” said Minister for Social Welfare M K Muneer. He was speaking after inaugurating the valedictory function of the two-day national workshop CONCORD 2012 (Consultative Workshop on Rehabilitation of Endosulfan Victims and Rejuvenation of Ecosystem) held here on Sunday.

The workshop was organised by the district panchayat and National Programme for Rehabilitation of Persons with Disability (NPRPD) to draft a blueprint of rehabilitation and restoration of ecology in the 11 Endosulfan-hit panchayats of the district.

Sludge Has Toxins, Should Have Been Dumped At Safe Place, Say Experts

Final document is being touted as victory for developing world, as it reiterates principle of common but differentiated responsibilities

The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, or Rio+20, came to an end last week. The conference declaration, entitled “The Future We Want”, is a weak and meaningless document. It aims at the lowest common denominator consensus, to say nothing consequential about how the world will move ahead to deal with the interlinked crises of economy and ecology. The question arises: is this the future we want or the future we dread?

The Andhra Pradesh Pollution Control Board is vexed over the rampant burning of household trash in personal backyards in complete violation of instructions from the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation.

Pollution control experts say that when household garbage is burnt, Dioxins, a known carcinogen, associated also with birth defects, are released into the air we inhale. Dioxins are impossible to be removed from the food chain since these are Persistent Bioaccumulative Toxins (PBTs) which enter plants through air and water, then cattle and poultry, and finally, humans.

Environmental groups filed suit on Thursday seeking federal regulation of lead in ammunition, claiming exposure to the toxic metal from spent bullets fired into the environment by hunters kills mil