National Institute of Occupational Health (NIOH), an organisation under ICMR carried out study and submitted a report titled “Final Report of the Investigation of Unusual Illnesses Allegedly Produced by Endosulfan Exposure in Padre Village of Kasargod District (N. Kerala)” to National Human Rights Commission (NHRC). NIOH report mentions weaknesses of all earlier reports.
However, NIOH report itself is also erroneous as given below.
Flaws in NIOH Report include following:
Limit of quantification is not determined.
Values fall much below even the detection limit.
Linearity and range thereof i.e., calibration curve is not established.
No data related to recovery of analyte.
No direct confirmation of results of analysis.
Replicate sample determination and precision not given.
Very high standard deviation implies that data is highly skewed and most of the values fall below detection limit.
NIOH Report is available at following link:
An evaluation of earlier reports (also published in NIOH report) is given below:
Dr. Mohana Kumar Y S, a physician practicing in the area since 1982, used to keep record of the cases coming to his clinic for treatment. His record as published in Down to Earth Magazine (28th February 2001) is as follows:
Given below is a List of confirmed cases of various diseases as reported by Dr. Y. S. Mohankumar.
Disease & No. of Cases
Cancer 49
Mental retardation 23
Congenital anomalies 9
Psychiatric cases 43
Epilepsy 23
Suicide 9
Total* 156
Total (by January 26)** 197
NOTE: * - cases counted by January 5, 2001 **- break-up not available
In report by Mohankumar, only the number of persons suffering from diseases such as congenital malformations, cancers, psychiatric illnesses etc. without referring to the denominator (i.e. out of how many) was reported. These diseases also occur with varying frequency in general population. Hence their occurrence does not indicate exposure to unusual causative factor unless, the excessive incidence/prevalence compared to other similar population is proved. Therefore to establish the higher prevalence/incidence of any disease one must include control (reference) population in the study and then compare prevalence/incidence of various diseases.
Mohan Kumar wrote a letter to Centre For Science and Environment (CSE), which is a Delhi based NGO, about high incidences of cancer deaths and deformities in the village.
CSE found up to 8.95 ppm Endosulfan II in filtered water sample from Kasargod. However, solubility of Endosulfan II in water at room temperature is only 0.33 ppm
Thus CSE found 27.12 times higher amount of Endosulfan compared to its actual solubility in water.
CSE scientists also analysed biological and environmental samples for Endosulfan residues. Very high levels of Endosulfan were reported in samples of human blood, human milk, vegetables, spices, cow’s milk, animal tissues, cashew, cashew leaves and soil. It is not possible to sustain with so much of Endosulfan in blood and hence it shows that there is an obvious error in analysis.
Quantitative estimation of Endosulfan levels in biological and environmental samples was done at CSE by gas chromatography equipped with the ECD detector. This technique although very sophisticated for quantitative estimation, cannot identify an unknown substance, which needs to be confirmed by using standard tests. No confirmatory test was conducted by investigators and hence it cannot be said what was actually analyzed in the name of Endosulfan.
Fredrick Institute of Plant Protection and Toxicology (FIPPAT) at the request of PCK carried out evaluation of Endosulfan residues in 106 samples of human blood, one cow milk sample, one fish sample, 30 water samples, 29 soil samples and 28 cashew leave samples collected from 18.3.2001 to 02.05.2001 from Padre village. Their results show that there are no residues of Endosulfan in any of the blood samples, cow milk and water samples. However, some residue of Endosulfan was detected in soil and leaf samples. The FIPPAT study, though started one month later than CSE, shows just the opposite results, i.e. complete absence of endosulfan residues in blood, cow milk and water samples. The study reported Endosulfan residues in the range of 0.001 to 0.012 ppm in soil samples and 0.04 to 2.863 ppm in cashew leave samples. FIPPAT did not include the confirmatory tests of the compound.
