KASARGOD: The team of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), which had visited the district to study the effects of endosulfan, has reportedly reached the conclusion that most of the diseases in the area are genetically related.The people of 11 grama panchayats of the district have been living in a state of panic for decades which even affected marriage prospects of the youngsters there. Newly-wed couples opted for abortions.There were also cases of couples going for divorce believing that their spouses might be carrying endosulfan residues in their blood.The team led by Dr Vishwa Mohan Katoch, Director- General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, had dropped enough hints during his interaction with mediapersons and medical fraternity that the cases might be genetic disorders.He had demanded that the medical community conduct a study on the genetic background of the victims.The Indian Council of Medical Research had also suggested a study by the Kozhikode Medical College in this direction.The Indian Council of Medical Research has reportedly reached the conclusion that endosulfan may not be the culprit after studying the reports of the all the commissions constituted to study the issue so far. Moreover, the medical team has got information that there was massive corruption in the spraying of endosulfan by the Plantation Corporation of Kerala.According to a member of the Dr Achuthan Commission that had first studied the issue, endosulfan was not sprayed in sufficient quantity as recommended by agriculture experts.The pesticide was sold to private farm owners in Karnataka and was aerially sprayed only in a diluted form. A member of the ICMR team had raised doubt that whether the diluted endosulfan would cause so much diseases in the area.
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