NEWS reports said 11 children were reported dead between May 30 and June 20 at Dinajpur Medical College Hospital from diseases that were triggered by pesticide contaminated fruits and vegetables. The matter has been confirmed by Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) that said pesticides, which were found in their blood samples, led to their deaths. An IEDCR team also collected blood samples of a total of 46 children, including the deceased 11, from Dinajpur’s litchi growing areas and found presence of pesticide particles in their blood samples. Officials of IEDCR said one does not need to eat a litchi to fall fatally sick as inhalation can also cause internal damage. Over 88 percent of cases showed where children consumed litchis, they died from the deadly effects of the pesticides. During visits to families of some deceased, it was found they all lived in close proximity to litchi orchards. The reports added that in 2012, 12 children had died eating litchis contaminated with pesticide. Bangladesh Agricultural Research Institute (BARI) has also examined seasonal fruits and found high quantity of pesticide particles like Organophosphorus in the samples collected from Dinajpur regions.
It is no longer a secret that pesticide producers are marketing the highly detrimental chemical inputs for use to protect fruits and vegetable despite growing evidence of health and environmental effects. The government was supposed to control and monitor its production and marketing, but it is also not paying enough heed to out of callousness and carelessness about its deadly impact on human health. Scientifically, it has been proven that children and infants are uniquely susceptible to pesticide effects because of their weak physiological immaturity and greater exposure to pesticides. Thus, its continued and excessive use makes must be treated as a crime when people, particularly young people are dying from its impacts.
A growing safety concern now hitting the people’s mind as the government initiated programs have failed to significantly reduce public exposure to pesticides or educate people about alternative pest control methods even at the field level. People want to see substantial reforms in this regard to adequately being assured of safeguard of children’s health. They want to see a dramatic reduction in the use of pesticides nationwide.
People tend to believe that widespread corruption is dominating the production, import and marketing of pesticides to neutralize any regulatory and restrictive regime in its distribution and marketing. Moreover, the marketing is going on unabated mainly because it fetches huge profit and influential persons are engaged in its import and distribution. It is high time the high rate of child mortality from impact of pesticides must be an eye opener to policy-maker to restrict its use and whatever use be allowed must be used under sustainable limit.
