Use products of science judiciously and intelligently

There are no demons to drive us desperate. We ourselves are responsible for the situation we are in!

I have mentioned this some one and half years back in one of my articles here : things-other-than-what-we-already-know-about-which-we-should-also-know. One of the topics I discussed in it was farmer suicides in this part of the world. Because people are placing the blame on the high costs of seeds, natural calamities, loans repayment problems, GM seeds and several other things. Opposition parties say government is not doing enough to solve these problems. And the illiterate farmers and villagers are putting the responsibility on 'demons' and 'bad vibrations' for suicides in almost all the families in some villages.

But scientists think different reasons are responsible for the desperation of farmers. 

These problems people say are accountable for the suicides are around for several decades. But why suddenly the farmers are 'considering' suicides and going for them now only? Have they suddenly became 'weak' mentally? I came across several interesting observations in this regard and I tried to bring these to the notice of everybody around here..

There is growing evidence that long-term pesticide use is linked to alterations in farmers' mental health. In the US high rates of depression and suicides are linked to farmers' use of pesticides!

During plantation period of crops, it seems, the farmers who were very calm, loving and caring earlier suddenly are becoming depressed and agitated and are taking their own lives. This sudden shift in behaviour, according to scientists, is because of the pesticide treated seeds! There is a growing evidence that pesticides may alter farmers’ mental health.

These chemicals do kill insects by ruining their nervous system. They can do the same thing to the farmer! Farming is a stressful job – uncontrollable weather, physical demands and economic woes intertwine with a personal responsibility for land that often is passed down through generations. But experts say that some of the chemicals used to control pests may make matters worse by changing farmers’ brain chemistry. Recent research has linked long-term use of pesticides to higher rates of depression and suicide. Evidence also suggests that pesticide poisoning – a heavy dose in a short amount of time – doubles the risk of depression. There are millions, even billions, of chemical reactions that make up the dynamic system that is responsible for your mood, perceptions, and how you experience life according to a Harvard Medical School report. Some research suggests that the chemicals - especially organochlorines and organophosphates - that farmers and their workers spread on fields may alter some of these brain chemicals. 20 years of occupational use of the pesticide even at low levels can also cause depression.

In a study some years ago in China, where a large number of farmers in a particular area were committing suicide, it was found that insecticides used there contained organophosphate, which is highly toxic and causes depressive mental conditions. 

Similar reports have been found from Sri Lanka (1) and other parts of the world (2).

And we see several people getting agitated and angry these days because of trivial things even in cities that are far away from farmlands. Road rages have become daily shows. I used to wonder very often why the world is changing so much and so badly. When I was very young people never used to be so angry, depressed and agitated like they are now. They rarely considered killing others and themselves. Divorce rate is low then and is increasing now. People are becoming selfish. Everybody is quarreling with everybody! I find sudden shift in peoples' behaviour now. "Why? What are the reasons?" I asked myself several times. Psychologists' reasons run like this: materialism, breaking up of families, degrading of the support system, egos, stress, economic independence of women etc. etc.

But has anyone considered pesticide residues in the food people consume and pollution in the air as some of the reasons too?

But, indiscriminate use of pesticides is not only making the pests highly resistant, it is changing the brain chemistry of people who consume or come across these pesticide residues and making them more vulnerable to depression and suicides. Moreover, all precautions have to be taken while using these poisons. If farmers don't follow what scientists ask them to do, they have to blame only themselves. If manufacturers and industrialists don't educate farmers on the dark side of  the products before bringing these chemicals to the doorstep of illiterate villagers, or local level officials don't try to teach people how to handle them or use them in the right way, who is to blame for all this mess we are in right now? 

I tried to bring this to the notice of journalists and news papers as soon as I wrote my article ( I have proof in the form of sent E-mails to the media people). But as usual they just read my article and ignored it. 

Still I tried to spread the message with my limited resources. And I urge all the people who read this article to bring this to the notice of their local officials and  farmers and see to it that everybody uses the products of science in the right way for our own well-being.

Citations:

1. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3154644/

2. https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Marianela_Corriols/publication...