Task Force blamed Syngenta Bayer and Monsanto for Pesticide Killings of Vidarbha Farmers

Task Force blamed  Syngenta  Bayer  and Monsanto for Pesticide Killings of Vidarbha Farmers

Dated 17 october 2017 

Special Task Force in Maharashtra to tackle  agrarian crisis  (Vasantrao Naik Sheti Swavlamban Mission-VNSSM) chairman  Kishor Tiwari today blamed   Swiss agrochemicals firm Syngenta , Germany’s Bayer and Bayer owned Monsanto for recent deaths of innocent farmers and farmworkers  from pesticide exposure in Maharashtra’s cotton belt in Yavatmal as they  have been accused of distributing dangerous pesticides  without sufficient safety information and violating guidelines and conditions by Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee (CIBRC), government of India. and the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management.

“In the Maharashtra , Monsanto is indirectly involved in distributing BG-III herbicide resistant GM cotton seeds  and   then  Syngenta & Bayer distributing  dangerous pesticides without guaranteeing safe user conditions and knowingly expose farmers to major health risks resulting death of poor farmers and farm workers ” Tiwari said in a statement.

According to the VNSSM survey, many farmers are suffering the health effects of uninformed, unprotected pesticide application to crops including nausea, rashes and eye irritation , Syngenta and Bayer  six products - Nativo (Bayer), Confidor (Bayer), Regent (Bayer), Larvin (Bayer), Gramoxone (Syngenta), and Matador (Syngenta) are  commonly known as highly toxic and unsafe needs to be banned with immediate effect ,Tiwari urged 

Farmers dying from pesticide exposure in Maharashtra’s cotton belt in Yavatmal make it evident that the government’s efforts to regulate toxic chemicals used in agriculture have miserably failed. It is natural for cotton growers under pressure to protect their investments to rely on greater volumes of insecticides in the face of severe pest attacks. It appears many of them have suffered high levels of exposure to the poisons, leading to their death. The fact that they had to rely mainly on the advice of unscrupulous agents and commercial outlets for pesticides, rather than on agricultural extension officers, shows gross irresponsibility on the part of the government. But the problem runs deeper. The system of regulation of insecticides in India is obsolete, and even the feeble efforts at reform initiated by the  government have fallen by the wayside. A new Pesticides Management Bill introduced in 2008 was studied by the Parliamentary Standing Committee, but it is still pending ,Tiwari added.

Earlier Kishor Tiwari  urged  criminal action against the pesticide manufacturers and corrupt government officials involved in the deaths of the Maharashtra farmers. He’s also right to demand an immediate ban on chemical farming in India. India’s farmers are not able to comprehend the toxicity of pesticides, retailers are not honest enough to act responsibly and, it seems, government officials are not properly trained or given sufficient resources to carry out their duties to regulate the trade. Tiwari’s recommendations also include a Rs 25,000 per hectare grant to farmers for five years for natural farming and a separate police-administration machinery to prevent the exploitation of farmers by pesticide manufacturers.

 Tiwari’s claim that the pesticide business in the country is controlled by three multinational companies United Phosphorus Limited, Syngenta and Bayer  are major players in the pesticide trade; however there is a multitude of smaller Indian manufacturers that are producing the same pesticide formulations under different brand names. All of these manufacturers are conducting their business in an unethical manner,time has come to regulate them .

=================================================