![]() Vaibhav Trivedi, an oncologist at the All India Institute of Medical Science (AIIMS), New Delhi, by at least some measures, the crisis has already arrived. Shah claimed the country would see a 50 percent rise in cancer rates within the next decade due to the use of agrochemicals.Īccording to Dr. ![]() Due to excess use of chemicals, the poison has started reaching underground sources of water”, he said after unveiling Gujarat state government’s project for natural farming. “India’s farming is heading towards a dangerous future. In January this year Amit Shah, the Union Minister for Home and Cooperation, warned that without full scale regulation of the toxic chemicals in pesticides, India would face a health crisis that would tax India’s healthcare system and cause untold death and suffering. Many of them face the same health risks as those in Saharanpur district. OVER 830 MILLION PEOPLE live in India’s agricultural regions. “We have no choice but to compromise our health to make ends meet”. ![]() “If we don’t use pesticides on our crops, we will starve,” Kumar said. There didn’t seem to be any other option. Devi and Kumar were aware of the risks the pesticides posed, but not spraying their fields would mean that the cabbage crop - their sole source of income - would likely fail. Until about a decade ago, protective equipment accompanied the pesticide containers, but now PPEs are not provided with the pesticides and most farmers in the region, already burdened with increasing costs of everything from seeds (often patented genetically modified varieties), pesticides and fertilizers and other farm inputs, cannot afford the PPEs. ![]() “Every information leaflet in the pesticide container mandates the use of PPEs, but no one pays heed to these instructions unless something very serious happens.”įarmers recognize the situation is unsustainable, but they have no viable alternatives to pesticides, “We know that herbicides are toxic, but we cannot afford manual weed control due to meager earnings,” said Sandeep Kumar, another local farmer. “These chemicals are very toxic,” said Ankit, who lost his mother to colon cancer in 2019. Few even bother to read the safety manual included with in the pesticide package.Īnkit Kumar is one of the few farmers in the region who uses a mask while spraying pesticides. Although the pesticide manufacturer recommends the use of specialized safety equipment when spraying the chemicals, most farmers in the region can’t afford to purchase the equipment. Even in a moment of tragedy, the fields, which the couple lease from local-landowners, need to be tended to. The same afternoon she was diagnosed with cancer, her husband Rakesh Kumar went out into the fields and spent four hours spraying pesticides on their cabbage crop. Farming is the lifeblood of generations of families. According to data from the district, 70 percent of the land in Saharanpur is under agricultural use and the sector employs 68 percent of the district’s population. Devi has tended these fields most of her life, as do most people in the farming district of Saharanpur, where her village is located. The cause of her illnesss, according to medical experts, might lie in the 14 acres of cabbage fields that surround Devi’s house, a small, two-room building sitting in the middle of the Doab floodplains that extend between the Ganges and Yamuna rivers.
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