Pest Management and Integrated Crop Management programs with clear reasoning behind it. 

• Endosulfan is relatively safer to many natural enemies (parasites & Predators) of pests which themselves account for more than 50% control of pests under IPM/ICM programs operated in many countries, especially India. You should know that the pest kill with a pesticide is often a possibility but the pest kill with natural enemies is a certainty. Natural enemies cannot live without feeding on their hosts. 

• Endosulfan is relatively safe to honey bees which play an important role in pollination of many crops and contribute a lot to increasing crop yields.

• Endosulfan is unique molecule which also helps managing insects that develop resistance to other chemicals used in pest control. Had there not been Endosulfan, the cost of pest control could have been enormous in managing pests in developing countries. The problem of insects such as Helicoverpa developing as many as hundred to thousand fold resistance to organophosphate/carbamates/pyrethroid chemical is well known.

• Endosulfan is compatible with many other pest control options. For your information, the use of most bio-rationals including bio-pesticides, whatever we see now, has been established in combination with Endosulfan. Rather, Endosulfan has served as a launching pad for many bio-pesticides including neem, NPV etc. which are now in some use. They are still being used effectively in combination with Endosulfan.

Your reservation to not using endosulfan appears largely driven by media reports on Kerala episode. However, you should know that Kerala stories were built by self seeking Indian NGOs and people like Mrs. Sunita Narain, Centre for Science and Environment, New Delhi, India. Complete scientific investigation done by the Government of India has clearly exposed her for doing a scientific fraud (You may please refer the article produced below from the publication by Center for Environment and Agrochemicals. Email: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ). There are court cases going against her and the people who have done this wrong (If you require more information on this, please ask).

Every, pesticide is bad. If used properly as per label instructions, there is less scope of it causing unwanted damage. Endosulfan is not at all recommended for an aerial application and for use near ponds and water reservoirs. Further, it is least used in Kerala compared to other states of India. If it is so bad, it should have produced malformations in the human populations of other states. What we see in Kerala is a genetic problem with a small set of human population. In a tropical and subtropical climate like India, persistence of Endosulfan in the environment is also low.

In the light of this my sincere request to PAN, I being the scientist having worked for long in pest management, is to try to understand the truth and seek the views of scientists and farmers of India on Endosulfan than believing self seeking NGOs, else you would be doing further damage to the economy of farmers by making them to opt for new pesticides which could do more harm than any good to the economy of farmers. Rather, I request you to strongly advocate for sustainable and organic agriculture with the farmers.