Words endosulfan diseases dropped

KASARGAOD: The district administration and the medical department have dropped the words ‘endosulfan diseases’ in their records of the on-going medical camps, fearing legal backlash from the pesticide manufacturers.During previous medical camps, the questionnaire to the doctors attending the advanced medical camps was ‘Is the disease caused by endosulfan?’ But now the question is “Can the case qualify to be included in the list?’  However, no guidelines have been issued to doctors to categorise the diseases.  The endosulfan nodal cell has not specified about what it intended by the word ‘list’.Obviously, the district administration fear legal action by the Pesticide  Manufacturers and Formulators Association of India, PMFAI and the Mumbai based Centre for Environment and Agrochemicals, CENTEGROA. It has already slapped a legal notice to Salim Ali Centre for Ornithology and Natural History, SACON, regarding the alleged flaws in determining  the endosulfan residues in the blood of the victims collected by the department of community medicine of the Kozhikode Medical College. A copy of the legal notice has also been sent to the principal of the Kozhikode Medical College.Now, the CENTEGRO has reportedly decided to slap another legal notice to the Kozhikode Medical College on the alleged flaws in the report submitted by the Department of Community Medicine to the Supreme Court.Interestingly, large number of patients from the non-sprayed villages of Delampady, Chemmand, Chengala, Madhur, Bedadka, Kuttikkole and Mogral-Puthur participated in the medical camp held in Bovikkanam on Sunday. The total number of patients were 949 including those from the sprayed villages of Muliyar, Karadka and Bellur.Surprisingly, the patients both in the sprayed and non-villages suffered from the same types of disease, said doctors.A doctor who participated in the camp said the number of  patients who attended camp from non-sprayed villages were far more than from the sprayed areas. Around 900 patients had participated in the first medical camp held in Perdala on August 13.