TN govt bans 6 dangerous pesticides, here's why

CHENNAI: After the announcement by the health department to permanently ban rat poison and temporarily ban pesticides in Tamil Nadu in September, the State government passed the order to temporarily ban them.

Health Minister Ma Subramanian made the announcement at the Tamil Nadu Government Multi Super-Speciality Hospital in Omandurar on Tuesday.

After identifying the consumption of pesticides and rat poison as one of the major causes of suicidal deaths, the government suggested the Agricultural Dept through the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine to ban the manufacturing, transportation, wholesale, retail or online sales of the rat poison.

Subramanian said that 6 of the most common pesticides are being banned for 60 days by the agricultural department. The order further has a provision to extend the ban for 30 days more, since the permanent ban can be imposed only by the Union Government.

“After 90 days, we’ll analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the products. Since they’re easily accessible to the people, they’re one of the underlying causes of suicides. Of the 16,883 deaths by suicide in Tamil Nadu in 2020, pesticides consumption was also a major factor,” he explained.