Bhopal: Reduction in immunity due to excessive use of pesticides is one of the main reasons behind growing corona cases, scientist Satyaprakash Singh Tomar said.
Tomar, a senior scientist in the department of anatomology, Agricultural University, Gwalior, was speaking at a webinar organised by The Bhopal School of Social Sciences physical education department recently.
In his keynote address, Tomar said Central and state governments should formulate a well-defined guideline to protect people from this slow poisoning. “It is also important to give instructions to farmers and create public awareness,” he said.
He said the green vegetables, fruits and cereals affect human health due to excessive use of pesticides. Apart from this, dangerous diseases like cancer, liver damage, diabetes, heart attacks and physical disability occur due to its ill effects.
Speaking further, Tomar said DDT was used for the first time after India’s independence to prevent spread of malaria. “Since then, we have been promoting use of pesticides,” he added.
Giving example of Punjab and Haryana, he said increased use of pesticide resulted in sharp increase in cancer and liver damage cases. The situation was so grim that a special train had to be run from Punjab to Mumbai for cancer patients. Programme organising secretary Lt Nasir Ali said, “We should carefully choose our daily diet to keep ourselves and our family safe.”
