Why farmers are at risk as India pushes back against global curbs on deadly insecticide

For over two years, Rajeshwar Madankar has struggled with constant body pain and headaches.

It began when the 27-year-old farmer from Maharashtra’s Yavatmal district sprayed the insecticide, chlorpyrifos, on his cotton farm one morning.

He made the mistake of not covering his face. “That day it was windy, and I accidentally inhaled some of the insecticide,” he said.

By the evening, he had a headache. In a few days, he was vomiting almost every evening.

Chlorpyrifos is used on a variety of food crops to control soil-borne insects, mosquitoes and roundworms. Eating, inhaling or touching the insecticide can lead to nerve and muscle damage. The World Health Organisation lists it as “moderately hazardous”. Studies link it to possible a cancer risk and growth concerns in newborns, apart from neurotoxicity.

“We usually mix 20 ml to 30 ml of the insecticide in a bucket, he may have used more,” said Aakash Suresh Masram, another farmer in Yerad village.

At the Yavatmal district hospital, the staff ran blood tests. “The doctor told me that the insecticide led to poisoning,” Madankar told Scroll.

Other farmers suspect that the insecticide has been damaging their health too, Masram said. “Several farmers in our village have stopped using chlorpyrifos insecticide after Madankar’s illness,” he said.

The farmers’ fears have been vindicated...

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