The response to this grave warning in many counries in the West was swift and widespread. And by 1972, the use of organochlorine pesticides was banned in the US and many European countries. But the developing countries have yet to wake up to the mortal danger inherent in the use of this chemical. Socio-economic reasons are usually advanced in support of pesticides in these countries. However, nothing can justify the use of a chemical that is bound to prove more suicidal than profitable to man.
All pesticides are lethal poisons.
Due to the interrelatedness and the interdependence of organisms within an ecosystem, chemical pollutants can have far reaching effects in the environment through their accumulation in the food chain, in vegetables, fish, eggs, milk products, edible oil and in mother's milk and the unborn foetus. Inevitably, the problems that pesticides pose for us are indeed menacing. The country, at present, uses about 80,000 tonnes of technical grade pesticides annually to cover 182.5 million hectares of cultivated area. The demand is expected to rise to 1,54,000 tonnes anually by 2002. Besides, India accounts for one-third of pesticide poisoning in developing countries.