Endosulfan: PCSS demands withdrawl of study

KASARGOD: The Plantation Corporation Samrakshana Samithi has demanded withdrawal of the study report of the community medicine of the Kozhikode Medical College on the ‘Epidemiological Studies Related to Health in Endosulfan-affected Areas of Kasargod district’.In a letter to the principal of the Kozhikode Medical College, the PCK Samrakshana Samithi state secretary M Gangadharan Nair said the report of the medical college, which was later submitted to the Supreme Court, led to the government demanding huge funds from the PCK.The state government accepted the report without any review and subsequently demanded the PCK to pay huge funds to help pay the compensation. Bowing  to the pressure, the PCK paid Rs 5 crore in May 2011 to the government.Kozhikode Medical College principal Dr C Ravindran said the college used to get such legal notices. We are not to be blamed, he said. The laboratory test of the blood samples of endosulfan victims  was done at the SACON ( Salim Ali Centre for Science and Natural History). He said it was for the government to do what is required on the issue.However, S Ganesan, agriculture scientist and RTI activist said despite his several reminders to the Kozhikode medical college authorities they failed to give any reply. “Scientists should remain totally accountable to their findings”, said Ganesan who is also the legal and technical advisor of the Mumbai-based Centre for Environment and Agrochemicals.Now the government issued another order to pay more than Rs 120 crore which is affecting the financial viability and long term sustainability and survival of the PCK. A few weeks ago, Dr K M Sreekumar and Dr K D Prathapan, assistant professors of Entomology at the Kerala Agriculture University, had published a report in the ‘Vignana Kairali’, published by the Kerala Bhasha Institute, giving full details of serious mistakes, flaws and misrepresentation of data in the medical college report, Gangadharan Nair said.He said in the legal notice that the ‘fraudulent study’ had caused material injury to the PCK and also caused mental agony to the PCK workers regarding their livelihood.