The Central government has notified for a ban on paraquat dichloride, a herbicide, that has been linked to thousands of deaths due to self-harm, homicides and accidental deaths in India. The notice comes on the back of a series of bans by different States, including most recently by Andhra Pradesh, and earlier by Telangana, Odisha and Kerala.

The notice by the Union Ministry of Agriculture and Farmers Welfare links the ban on the herbicide/weedicide to an Experts Committee as well as a report of the Registration Committee that regulates registration and sale of pesticides in the country under the Insecticides Act of 1968. The Registration Committee cited several areas of concern, including ‘documented adverse health effects; continued history of poisoning incidents and reported high fatalities; the absence of a specific antidote; among others’.

“The Registration Committee has recommended complete prohibition of Paraquat Dichloride in India i.e. an immediate ban on the manufacture, import, transport, distribution, sale and use of paraquat dichloride under the Insecticides Act, 1968,” reads the notification.

The committee noted that paraquat dichloride is already banned or subject to strict restrictions in more than 70 countries worldwide.

Paraquat dichloride is used by farmers after the harvest to clean up the land for the next crop but a ban has been debated in the country for years amid information about occupational health hazards among farm workers, and its use in cases of self-harm. Recently data from hospitals in India showed how the the number of cases of self-harm have accelerated due to easy and cheap availability of the toxic chemical through online retailers. The chemical has no antidote.

The notification is the first step in the ban, as the Agriculture department has given a 30-day timeline inviting suggestions and objections required under the Insecticides Act. All the States have been directed to take steps under the provisions of the Insecticides Act to make it effective.

“This is a welcome development. It will save many lives. If a decision like this was taken a decade earlier, we would not have lost so many farmers and young people to self-harm,” said Marri Mahesh Reddy, an emergency doctor from Karimnagar in Telangana who campaigned for a ban under Doctors Against Paraquat.

You must have recently seen mentions of something called ORS in the news. Do you know what it stands for? And why is it in the news?

So, ORS stands for Oral Rehydration Solution and is also referred to as Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT). It is a type of fluid replacement which has sugars and salts, sodium and potassium, used to prevent and treat dehydration during various illnesses like diarrhoea. Use of oral rehydration therapy has been estimated to decrease the risk of death from diarrhoea by up to 93%. WHO recommends a specific quantity of each ingredient, which is important to ensure the best quality ORS reaches the public. 

The issue at hand was quite simple: a group of ORS products being sold throughout the country was not following this particular quality check, leading to the product not being of medical quality. The World Health Organisation (WHO) recommends an oral rehydration solution (ORS) with a total osmolarity (a measure of how many dissolved particles are in a liquid) of 245 mOsm/L. This standard formula contains 2.6 grams of sodium chloride, 1.5 grams of potassium chloride, 2.9 grams of sodium citrate, and 13.5 grams of dextrose anhydrous (sugar) per litre. 

In comparison, some ORS packets produced by pharmaceutical organisations and sold in the market contain an approximate total sugar content of 120 grams per litre, of which 110 grams is added sugar. They also have 1.17 grams of sodium, 0.79 grams of potassium, and 1.47 grams of chloride per litre.

In 2017, Dr Sivaranjani Santosh, a Hyderabad-based paediatrician, set out to fight a long battle for the betterment of the medical industry. Masquerading as life-saving Oral Rehydration Solutions, certain sugar drinks were being sold under the pretext of being medically qualified ORS. Last week, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued an order banning the use of the term ‘ORS’ on any beverage that does not adhere to the WHO’s strict medical formula.

Initially started as an awareness-raising programme, it was in 2021 that Dr Sivaranjani wrote to the Central Drugs Standard Control Organisation (CDSCO) and later FSSAI and the Ministry of Health. In April 2022, FSSAI prohibited the use of the ORS label, but it reversed the order in July, allowing companies to use the label with a disclaimer. Since most people don’t read disclaimers, this was deceptive. 

Last year, she filed a PIL and continued raising the issue on social media, gaining support from the Endocrine Society of India and the Women Paediatricians Forum. 

After eight years of battle to ensure better healthcare, Dr Sivaranjani finally won. On October 15 2025, the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) issued a landmark order, banning the use of the term ‘ORS’ on any beverage that does not adhere to the WHO’s strict medical formula, a move that will prevent the misuse of a critical healthcare label.