The kit consists of a trouser, pullover and a face-cover made of ‘oxime fabric’ that can chemically breakdown any of the common pesticides that get sprayed onto cloth or body during spraying operations.
| Photo Credit: Special Arrangement
Akin to the protective PPE kits that health workers don, scientists affiliated to the Department of Biotechnology (DBT) have developed an ‘anti-pesticide’ suit called Kisan Kavach. The suit is intended to protect farm labourers from imbibing the pesticides they spray. Several of the common pesticides are potential neurotoxins and detrimental to health.
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The kit consists of a trouser, pullover, and a face-cover made of ‘oxime fabric’ that can chemically breakdown any of the common pesticides that get sprayed onto cloth or body during spraying operations. This prevents chemicals from leaching into the skin. The price per kit is ₹4,000. Those who spray insecticide or pesticides usually cover themselves from head to toe with ordinary cloth. This approach, said Praveen Kumar Vemula, of inStem Bangalore, the DBT-affiliated organisation that developed the kit, wasn’t advisable. Cloth over time tended to accumulate high quantities of the poisonous chemicals that would eventually pass into the body. Moreover, field observations with farmers and workers revealed that many of them didn’t wear protective covering because it was uncomfortable and unsuitable for prolonged outdoor work.
“Pesticides are neurotoxins and don’t discriminate between pests and humans. The typical worker is actually working in a cloud of poisonous rain. Our field surveys, involving about 200 farmers in 60 villages, revealed that day-long spraying operations led to dizziness, vomiting, headaches but if concentrations are very high, it can even result in death,” he said at a press conference here on Tuesday. “A recent study by the National Institute of Nutrition (Indian Council of Medical Research) showed that chronic exposure was linked to cancer,” he added.
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To combine comfort, wearability and protection, Mr. Vemula and his colleagues integrated oximes into the cellulose of cotton fabric that makes into an ‘activated fabric,’ resulting in the kavach kit. They have published results from tests on rodents to examine the degree of protection from the chemicals in the journal Nature Communications earlier this year.
“Animals that were repeatedly exposed and who had no protection or covered with ordinary cotton cloth died within four days but those covered with the activated fabric, when exposed to the dose, were safe,” he recounted. However, studies involving trials on humans were not available. The kit retained its potency in a wide temperature range, under UV-light exposure and was protective even after a 150 washes, he added.
The inStem scientists have formed a company, Sepio Health Pvt. Ltd. to manufacture the kisan kavach.
Science Minister, Jitendra Singh, who gave away a few kits to a clutch of farmers present at the press conference here said that efforts would be made to reduce the cost of the kit. “We need significant awareness and farmers must be made aware of the existence of such a product. This is critical to protect their health,” he added.
According to the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO), 2022, India used over 61,000 tonnes of pesticide in 2020. Brazil, China, and Argentina used 3,77,000 tonnes; 2,73,000 tonnes; and 2,41,000 tonnes respectively. Curiously for a country whose agriculture and allied sectors are the largest contributor to the economy and whose adult workforce is 60% farmers, India actually produces about four times more pesticide than it uses. The total pesticide production in India between 2022 and 2023 was 2,58,130 tonnes, according to the government data. This increased by twofold from 1998 (1,02,240 tonnes). Currently, 104 pesticides are being manufactured in India among 293 registered pesticides.
Published – December 17, 2024 09:22 pm IST
