Fatally toxic class I pesticides must be banned at the earliest, says CSE
- Death of farmers due to pesticide poisoning in Maharashtra is unfortunate and could have been avoided; points towards complete failure of agriculture departments in managing pesticides
- Pesticide poisoning and deaths due to accidental intake of pesticides is a long festering problem in India
- The incident highlights the urgent need to fix several long-standing gaps in pesticide management in the country
- Most urgently, India needs to ban use of class I pesticides which are very toxic; many of these are banned in other countries
- India needs a new Pesticide Management Bill to stop the unsafe use of toxic pesticides and improve enforcements