Push to revoke endosulfan ban

Secretive tribunals, hidden damages

The North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) appears to have generated the most number of investor-state treaties and shows that rich countries are as much at risk as developing countries. Would you agree?  Interviewee:  Gus Van Harten

India’s many investment treaties make it vulnerable

Would it be correct to say that all countries are at risk from BITs and FTAs although the treaties are targeted at developing countries? Interviewee:  Nathalie Bernas...

Investment terror

The New Year may not have started cheerily for the claims brigade. An international arbitration panel awarded US oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp just $908 million in compensation for Venezuela’s nationalisation of its assets in 2007, less than 10 per cent of what the behemoth had reportedly sought. It was presumed that Venezuela’s feisty president Hugo Chavez, known for his America-baiting, would be celebrating.

Importing Disaster

India’s power elite is still seeking US solutions for our problems despite the havoc they  have wreaked upon American society

Pesticide trap

In May when Kerala banned seven highly toxic insecticides so that it switches to safer chemicals, it did not fare better. It ended up replacing them with six others, banned or severely restricted in most parts of the world.

Can endosulfan be exported?

AFTER imposing a ban on endosulfan, the Supreme Court is now examining the possibility of allowing export of the pesticide. On August 5, the court-appointed joint committee was given a three-week deadline to submit an interim report on the possibility of exporting and disposing of the endosulfan stocks with the manufacturers.

Pesticide makers resort to scare tactics

Excel Crop Care, the biggest endosulfan manufacturer in the country, has sent legal notices to three doctors— Jayakrishnan T, Prabhakumari C and Thomas Bina—of the department of community medicine of the Calicut Medical college (CMC) in Kozhikode for their report on endosulfan.

SC extends endosulfan ban

THE Supreme Court has turned down the request of pesticide manufacturers to allow them to export the pesticide stocks in India. The court had banned the sale, manufacture, use and export of the pesticide on May 13 on a petition by the youth wing of the CPI(M), the Democratic Youth Federation of India. While ordering the interim ban, the court had appointed a joint committee to report on the health and environmental impacts of endosulfan. The committee, headed by the director general of the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), missed the July 15 deadline for submitting the report.

Contest for pesticide