The presentation states that the committees which reviewed the NIOH study on Endosulfan did not find any confirmation which states that endosulfan is harmful. In absence of confirmation the residues of Endosulfan reported by NIOH cannot be accepted. Besides the NIOH study has also reported Endosulfan residues far below the minimum limit of detection of GC-ECD. The call for a ban on Endosulfan is not justified on a scientific basis and endosulfan can be used on fruits and vegetables without fear of residues. They also stated that there is no health effect on exposure to Endosulfan…http://whybanendosulfan.org

1. KEY ISSUES – NIOH REPORT ON
ENDOSULFAN

2. ENDOSULFAN REGISTRATION
Endosulfan is a sulfurous acid ester of chlorinated
cyclic diol and was registered in India by Registration
Committee under the Insecticide Act after considering
all the data on chemistry, residues, bioefficacy and
toxicology data including acute oral and dermal
toxicity, skin irritation, carcinogenicity, mutageneicity,
tetragenecity in the country.

3. EXPERT COMMITTEES
Several committees have been constituted by Ministry of Agriculture
and Ministry of Health and Family Welfare of the Govt. of India to
review the use of Endosulfan:
Dr S N Banerjee Committee (ex‐plant protection advisor, Govt. of
India)
Dr R B Singh Committee (Director IARI)
Kerala Agricultural University Committee (appointed by Vice
Chancellor, KAU)
Mr. Achyutan Committee (Noted Environmentalist)
Dr O P Dubey Committee (ex‐Additional Director General, Plant
Protection, ICAR)
Dr C D Mayee Committee (Agricultural Commissioner)
Dr Y K Gupta Committee (Professor & Head of Pharmacology,
AIIMS)
The various committees considered scientific data on chemistry,
bioefficiacy, carcinogenecity, mutagenecity, tetragenecity,
epidimological studies and reports from FAO, WHO, information from
Agricultural Universities and from ICAR institutes

4. EXPERT COMMITTEE FINDINGS
The expert committees noted that there is no
link established in the use of Endosulfan and
the health problems reported in Padre
village in Kerala and recommended the
continued use of Endosulfan as per the
provisions of the Insecticides Act.

5. COMMENTS ON NIOH STUDY
The committees have reported that several studies were
conducted in establishing the levels of endosulfan and its
metabolites in biological samples, soil and water.
The committees had observed that for detecting low levels of
residue use of highly sophisticated instruments and high class
expertise is required.
The studies were not done using such instruments
The committee indicated that confirmation of Endosulfan
Residues by GCMS/LCMS is required as per international norms. It
is likely that different molecules with structural similarity may
appear in the same peak due to similar retention time.

6. INTERNATIONAL PRACTICES
In the meeting of CODEX committee of Pesticide
Residues held at The Hague, Netherlands in May 2002
Good Laboratory Practices on Pesticide Residue
Analysis it was emphasised that when analysis are
performed for monitoring on enforcement purposes it
is especially important that confirmation data should
be generated before reporting data on residues of
pesticides.

7. FLAWS OF NIOH REPORT
The committees which reviewed the NIOH study on
Endosulfan did not find any reports where such
confirmation was done. In absence of confirmation the
residues of Endosulfan reported by NIOH cannot be
accepted.
Besides the NIOH study has also reported Endosulfan
residues far below the minimum limit of detection of
GC‐ECD.

8. RECENT IMPORTANT STUDIES
Recent Monitoring Study by National Project on
Monitoring of Ministry of Agriculture above 15,000
samples of fruits and vegetables have been analysed for
Endosulfan residues and in almost all the samples
residues of Endosulfan were well below the Maximum
Residue Limits (MRL)
Endosulfan can be used on fruits and vegetables
without fear of residues

9. CONCLUSION
• There is no health effect on exposure to
Endosulfan.
• The call for a ban on Endosulfan is not justified
on a scientific basis.

10. PRESENTED BY:
Rakesh Sethi – 09
Ankita Kapadia – 14
Maithili Prabhakar ‐ 24

11. THANK YOU