The Church of South India (CSI) has called for a nationwide ban on Endosulfan.
In a statement here on Wednesday, Bishop Thomas K. Oommen, chairman, CSI Synod Ecological Concerns Committee, and Mathew Koshy Punnackad, convener, called upon the Union Ministry for Environment and Forests to support the proposal for an international ban on Endosulfan at a conference of the parties to the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants beginning in Geneva on April 25.
The bishop, in a separate pastoral letter to be read out on the occasion of Easter, has come out with a 12-point programme to be implemented by the Church to protect the environment. These include rainwater harvesting projects in parishes, schools, colleges and other institutions run by the Church; large-scale planting of vetiver plants in church properties; constitution of eco-clubs in schools and colleges; ban on throwaway plastic cups and bags at functions; organic farming in parishes; large-scale use of smokeless hearths and solar lamps; and commencement of an alternative model in food habits.
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