Centre bans paraquat dichloride, a herbicide linked to thousands of self-harm, homicide and accidental deaths

The Central government has notified for a ban on paraquat dichloride, a herbicide, that has been linked to thousands of deaths due to self-harm, homicides and accidental deaths in India. The notice comes on the back of a series of bans by different States, including most recently by Andhra Pradesh, and earlier by Telangana, Odisha and Kerala.

The notice by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare links the ban on the herbicide/weedicide to an Experts Committee as well as a report of the Registration Committee that regulates registration and sale of pesticides in the country under the Insecticides Act of 1968. The Registration Committee cited several areas of concern, including ‘documented adverse health effects; continued history of poisoning incidents and reported high fatalities; the absence of a specific antidote; among others’.

“The Registration Committee has recommended complete prohibition of Paraquat Dichloride in India i.e. an immediate ban on the manufacture, import, transport, distribution, sale and use of paraquat dichloride under the Insecticides Act, 1968,” reads the notification.

The committee noted that paraquat dichloride is already banned or subject to strict restrictions in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Paraquat dichloride is used by farmers after the harvest to clean up the land for the next crop but a ban has been debated in the country for years amid information about occupational health hazards among farm workers, and its use in cases of self-harm. Recently data from hospitals in India showed how the the number of cases of self-harm have accelerated due to easy and cheap availability of the toxic chemical through online retailers. The chemical has no antidote.

The notification is the first step in the ban, as the Agriculture department has given a 30-day timeline inviting suggestions and objections required under the Insecticides Act. All the States have been directed to take steps under the provisions of the Insecticides Act to make it effective.

“This is a welcome development. It will save many lives. If a decision like this was taken a decade earlier, we would not have lost so many farmers and young people to self-harm,” said Marri Mahesh Reddy, an emergency doctor from Karimnagar in Telangana who campaigned for a ban under Doctors Against Paraquat.