{"id":28234,"date":"2024-08-24T17:49:20","date_gmt":"2024-08-24T12:19:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=28234"},"modified":"2024-08-27T18:50:19","modified_gmt":"2024-08-27T13:20:19","slug":"need-to-prohibit-use-of-pesticides-to-ensure-food-safety","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/24-08-2024\/need-to-prohibit-use-of-pesticides-to-ensure-food-safety","title":{"rendered":"Need to Prohibit use of Pesticides to ensure food safety"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Health\/GS3\/Economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/08-06-2022\/4th-state-food-safety-index-sfsi-fssai#:~:text=food%20safety%20systems.-,Food%20Safety%20and%20Standards%20Authority%20of%20India%20(FSSAI),of%20Health%20and%20Family%20Welfare.\">Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI)<\/a> has urged states to establish an inter-ministerial committee to focus on reducing pesticide use and developing strategies to regulate pesticide at the farmer level.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Benefits of Pesticides\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Increased Crop Yields<\/strong>: By controlling pests that damage crops, pesticides help farmers achieve higher yields and more reliable harvests.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Economic Efficiency:<\/strong> Pesticides reduce crop losses, which in turn lowers food prices and increases the profitability of farming.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Disease Prevention<\/strong>: Some pesticides control vectors like mosquitoes, which are responsible for spreading diseases such as malaria and dengue fever.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Weed Control:<\/strong> Herbicides, a type of pesticide, effectively manage weed populations that compete with crops for nutrients and water.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Issues<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Ecological Impact<\/strong>: Pesticides can harm non-target species, including beneficial insects like bees, butterflies, and predatory insects that help control pest populations naturally.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Soil Health<\/strong>: Prolonged use of pesticides can degrade soil health by killing microorganisms essential for soil fertility.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Water Contamination:<\/strong> Pesticides can leach into groundwater or run off into surface water bodies, causing contamination.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Human Health Risks<\/strong>:Pesticides, when used excessively or inappropriately, can <strong>leave harmful residues <\/strong>in food products, <strong>posing significant health risks<\/strong> to consumers.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>These risks include <strong>acute poisoning, endocrine disruption,<\/strong> and long-term effects such as cancer and neurological disorders<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Governments Steps<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Food Safety on Wheels: <\/strong>The FSSAI&#8217;s emphasis on regulating pesticide use aligns with global standards to minimize these risks and promote public health.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The FSSAI has highlighted the need to identify key locations within states where mobile labs, known as &#8220;<strong>Food Safety on Wheels<\/strong>,&#8221;can be deployed.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>These mobile labs will play a crucial role in raising consumer awareness and disseminating vital information about food safety practices.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Maximum Residue limit (MRLs) of pesticides <\/strong>: MRLs of pesticides are <strong>fixed differently for different food commodities<\/strong> based on their risk assessments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Insecticide Act, 1968 : <\/strong>Pesticides are regulated by the Ministry of Agriculture through the Central Insecticide Board and Registration Committee (CIB &amp; RC) constituted under the <strong>Insecticide Act, 1968.<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The CIB &amp; RC regulate the manufacturing, import, transport, storage of pesticides and accordingly the pesticides are registered\/ banned\/restricted by CIB &amp; RC.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) increased the maximum residue limit (MRL) of pesticides in herbs and spices\u00a0 from <strong>0.01 milligrammes per kilogramme (mg \/ kg) to 0.1 mg \/ kg.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>MRLs fixed by CODEX for spices and culinary herbs range from 0.1 to 80 mg\/kg.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FSSAI aligns with the updated standards of MRLs set by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/22-04-2021\/facts-in-news-132\"><strong>Codex Alimentarius Commission<\/strong> <\/a>(an International Food Safety and Quality Standard setting body created by WHO and FAO of UN) and the European Union.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Anupam Verma Committee: <\/strong>It was constituted by the Department of Agriculture &amp; Farmers Welfare to review <strong>66 pesticides which are banned\/restricted<\/strong> in other countries but continued to be registered for use in India.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Organic farming: <\/strong>Organic farming avoids the use of pesticides which results in food products that are free from harmful chemical residues with higher levels of essential nutrients.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The government is promoting use of <strong>biopesticides<\/strong>, which are generally safer than chemical pesticides.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>FSSAI has also asked State Food Safety Commissioners to undertake an <strong>awareness campaign on pesticides\/insecticides residues<\/strong> in fruits and vegetables.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion and Way Forward\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Pesticides remain a vital tool in modern agriculture, contributing to food security and economic stability.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>However, their use must be carefully managed to balance agricultural productivity with environmental sustainability and human health.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newsonair.gov.in\/fssai-urges-states-to-establish-inter-ministerial-committees-to-focus-on-reducing-pesticide-use\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>AIR<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) has urged states to establish an inter-ministerial..<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28234","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28234","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=28234"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28234\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28382,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28234\/revisions\/28382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28234"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28234"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=28234"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}