Hemalatha, eight months old, daughter of Senthil Kumar and Dhanalakshmi of Babu Colony, Muthalamada, was born two years after the global ban on endosulfan. Her swollen head and apparent physical illnesses are testimony to the residuary harm that the pesticide has been doing to the people of Muthalamada.
“Our hut is close to a mango plantation where the spraying of endosulfan had been routine for many years. This may have contributed to the plight of our child,” Dhanalakshmi says. The couple’s first child, born four years ago with similar physical conditions, lived only for two months.
Sharanya, 11, of the same locality, was diagnosed with cerebral meningitis on the 28th day of her birth. She was also diagnosed with hydrocephalus. She can sit only with support. Victims of endosulfan use are now pinning their hopes on Health Minister V.S. Sivakumar’s announcement that a health package would be implemented for those affected at Muthalamada and adjoining Kollangode. Many are but sceptical about the sincerity of the government.
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“Unlike in the case of victims in Kasaragod, the 188 victims here are a neglected lot. The biggest humiliation was in 2011 when the government released Rs.5,000 as compensation to 46 victims. All of them denied the compensation as each would have got only Rs.108,” C. Kaliyappan of Pathippara says. Shaktivel, suffering from a skin condition, says the package is only in the making and it will be a long time before it is implemented.
The number of children with birth deformities, cancer, cerebral palsy, mental disorders, skin diseases and vision loss is high, sources say. “Here the pesticide was sprayed on individual trees with nozzles directed skywards. The person spraying gets affected almost instantly,” says S. Guruvayurappan, a conservationist. “The health package will be ineffective as endosulfan is now replaced with equally dangerous pesticides such as monocrotophos, furidan, and phorate in the mango orchards. They reach the plantations in label-less cans from Tamil Nadu,” says Arumugan Pathichira of Anti-Endosulfan Forum.