Environmental Engineering Reference
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The farmers themselves also adjust the dosage (and, anecdotal evidence indicates, use more than the
recommended level) when they are not satisfi ed with the results. As mentioned elsewhere in this
topic (e.g., Chapters 6, 7 and 8 on the UK/Republic of Ireland, Latin America and the United States/
Canada, respectively), carbofuran is also used in combination with organophosphate compounds. In
India, it is used with phorate, and in such cases, the dosage increase has that much greater potential to
do harm. In one incident, a newspaper report from Bangladesh (Report 1999) described the death of
more than 5 000 sparrows in Dakatia village (located near the Indo-Bangladesh border) on a single
day in August 1999. This was reportedly due to the excessive use of pesticides, including Furadan,
in an agricultural fi eld. In another incident (also in Bangladesh), three children and several domestic
animals reportedly died due to an over-application of carbofuran (Report 2009c). Here the children
had been playing with clay from the pesticide-treated fi eld.
As mentioned in Chapter 2, carbofuran is absorbed intra-dermally and also through inhalation. Most
farmers in India do not wear suffi cient protective gear while handling pesticides (Abhilash and Singh
2009). In fact, it seems that they tend to ignore or have become used to the discomforting symptoms
that follow low-grade exposure (such as nausea, headache and light-headedness) from which spontane-
ous recovery, due to the reactivation of the cholinesterase enzyme, occurs in one to four hours (Baron
1991). To minimise direct contact for those handling the pesticide, Rallis India (a major marketing
agent for Furadan) packs the granules in a fl exibag. This bag (Hassia fl exibag 250) offers greater size
variability, enables tamper-proof packing of the carbofuran, and considerably reduces spillage.
Abhilash and Singh (2009) reviewed the current status of pesticide usage in India and have pro-
vided recommendations to prevent problems caused by the misuse of pesticides. They list several
factors including illiteracy, lack of protective equipment, poor application practice and excessive
usage of pesticides. Such issues are more prevalent in India than in developed countries and thus the
risk of exposure increases.
4.9.3 Deliberate poisoning using carbofuran and other compounds
In terms of the abuse of carbofuran for deliberate poisoning, either in human suicide attempts or in
attempts to kill animals, other chapters in this topic demonstrate that carbofuran has been frequently
used to poison wildlife worldwide, and India is no exception (Gupta 1994). As we noted in Section 4.9,
the granular form in which carbofuran is produced, its lack of odour, and its potent toxicity all make
it an easy choice for use in poisoning. However, the number of documented cases of deliberate poi-
soning with carbofuran in India is currently low, when compared to other pesticides. Instead, OPC
pesticides have been preferentially employed for this purpose (refer to Table 4.7).
Awareness regarding the potential to abuse this pesticide has increased, especially after the recent
'60 Minutes' television piece on lion poisoning in Kenya with Furadan (Chapter 3 provides a further
description of the piece). However, very few incidents of deliberate poisoning using carbofuran have
been reported in India. Pinakini and Kumar (2009) diagnosed one case of carbofuran poisoning in a
human (one individual) quantitatively, using serial cholinesterase estimation. Recently, a newspaper
(Report 2009e) reported that eight children had been deliberately poisoned using phorate. Those
involved (self-proclaimed soothsayers), poisoned the children solely to 'prove' their skills of prophesy
and clairvoyance.
In a study of all emergency admissions (33 207 patients) to a hospital in Mangalore city, Singh
and Unnikrishnan (2005) found that acute poisoning constituted 1.0% of cases seen. Of this, 70% of
the cases were males, and the majority (36%) were between 21 and 30 years of age; 72% of poison-
ings were intentional and agrochemical pesticides were used in 49% of them (followed by drugs
and alcohol). The major pesticides involved were OPCs and aluminum phosphide. No mention of
carbofuran was made in this report (Singh and Unnikrishnan 2005).
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