Dave lapped up whatever Handa had to say. Speaking to Business Standard, Dave said that "the endosulfan issue has been exaggerated." One PMFAI member went on to blame the cause for the "strange diseases" on inbreeding — "many of those affected by these maladies are reported to be related to each other".

On background radiation, this association offered many explanations, "it could be microbial contamination of water in streams. Or heavy metal contamination. Or poor nutritional levels." In other words, anything else under the sun. But not endosulfan.

Science of manufacturing data
The disinformation campaign brought only limited dividends for the pesticide lobby. They still needed a "scientific" study to counter the CSE study. And they didn’t have to wait long. In February 2001, a Kerala Agricultural University (KAU) team, headed by M Abdul Salam, associate dean, College of Agriculture, Kerala Agriculture University, conducted a study in Kasaragod. The results were astonishing. No significant residues of endosulfan were found in any of the samples. The industry couldn’t have asked for more. And they went to town with the findings. But there were only a few takers.

The KAU study has become somewhat of a joke among learned circles. Differences within the KAU team have cast a shadow over its credibility. Thomas George, who did the residue analysis, has washed off his hands as far as the sampling process is concerned. "I never visited that place (Kasaragod), so I do not know how the samples were collected and from where they were collected. I simply did the residue analysis for the team," says George. He is also quick to point out that he was only involved with the KAU team in the first round of analysis. "I was not involved the second time," he says. But other scientists in the team swear that George was involved in both the analysis — the papers clearly mention his name in both the teams.

Activists allege that Salam and Samuel Mathew, another member of the KAU team, were hobnobbing with industry representatives. "I met them only to get the scientific studies on endosulfan," defends Mathew. Mathew’s situation is akin to a judge asking the accused for evidence to save him. Salam says that he was not influenced by anyone. Moreover, even the KAU team admitted the problems faced during their investigation in their report: "Non-availability of quick and reliable methods to assess the level of endosulfan contamination in the environmental, animal and human samples." Activists and people’s groups in Kerala have rejected the KAU study.

The endosulfan conspiracy took a new turn when the PCK commissioned the Fredrick Institute of Plant Protection and Toxicology (FIPPAT) in Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, to conduct a study at a cost of Rs 7 lakh, according to PCK. Controversy has trailed this study from the onset. Villagers of Padre and other areas refused to cooperate with this team to collect samples as they knew that it was an industry-sponsored study. "We did not even know when they collected the samples," says Shree Padre, a journalist-farmer who along with Mohana Kumar Y S, a doctor in Padre, have been protesting against the spraying for many years. "Later we came to know that the samples were collected from young PCK workers, and not from the villagers," says Sripathy Kajampady, a doctor in Kasaragod who has been fighting for the victims. FIPPAT director Balakrishnamurthy refutes these allegations: "We did a scientific collection with the help of proper authorities." Members of the Achyuthan committee — constituted by the state government — are however, far from satisfied. They have criticised the report for improper sampling and also the lack of cross checking the findings at a different lab.

The pesticide lobby was quick to question CSE’s study saying that it had used concentrated sulphuric acid and so it should be verified by an independent residue expert. It is another matter that while the CSE study did not use sulphuric acid on blood samples, the FIPPAT study, which the industry lapped up, did.

It is unbelievable. CSE collected the samples a few days after the spraying and found high levels of endosulfan in all the samples. "The FIPPAT study, though started one month later than CSE, shows just the opposite results, that is, complete absence of endosulfan residues in blood, cow milk and water samples," says the NIOH report.

Moreover, NIOH, which did its study almost 10 months after the last spraying, found endosulfan residues in water samples collected from Kasaragod. NIOH also found residues in the blood samples of children of Vaninagar school. "The detection of endosulfan in the blood samples of children and water samples, 10 months after the last aerial spraying of endosulfan, signifies a continuous exposure to endosulfan," says the report (see box: What the report says on p31).

MUTUAL ADMIRATION CLUB Ganesan’s letter to Bhaskara Rao

Although the FIPPAT study was commissioned by the PCK, it was released by PMFAI’s Dave at press conferences in Kozhikode and Thiruvananthapuram, where selective extracts were reproduced for the press. "This clearly points out the nexus between industry-PCK and FIPPAT," says Jayakumar. Activists in Kerala and people of Kasaragod have branded the FIPPAT study as a "well-schemed industry effort".

An interesting incident that proves the nexus between the industry and private labs took place when the industry made a presentation before the Achyuthan committee. FIPPAT scientist A Ramesh accompanied the industry team that included Dave and S Ganesan of Excel Industries. "Ironically, the FIPPAT scientist did not accompany the PCK team, which had commissioned the study," says Achyuthan. When Down To Earth asked FIPPAT director as to what business did their scientist have by accompanying the industry team to a government committee, he said: "He might have gone in the same car, but was not with them." When told that Ramesh’s criticism of CSE analysis was recorded in the committee’s final report, he gave a contradictory reply: "It is not a big crime (accompanying the industry team). But we are not associated with any industry."