Citation

Utyasheva L, Eddleston M. Natl. Med. J. India 2018; 31(5): 317-318.

Affiliation

Centre for Pesticide Suicide Prevention, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, New Delhi All India Institute of Medical Sciences)

DOI

10.4103/0970-258X.261186

PMID

31268008

Abstract

We read with interest Dr Jacob’s article on suicide in India.[1] We agree with his holistic public health and socioeconomic view of the reasons for suicide. However, we believe that there is one key approach that will rapidly reduce the number of suicides occurring in India, i.e. to regulate sale and distribution of pesticides by removing highly hazardous pesticides (HHPs) from Indian agriculture.

Pesticide self-poisoning is a major issue in India. According to official statistics, 10.9% (14 352) of 131 666 suicides in 2014 were due to insecticide poisoning.[2] This is likely to be an underestimate of poisoning with any pesticide—a national survey estimated that 38.8% (72 500) of 187 000 Indian suicides in 2010 resulted from ingestion of pesticides.[3]

Restricting supply of pesticides is an effective approach to suicide prevention.[4] Implementation of legislation to limit the use of HHPs has been highly successful in reducing overall suicide numbers in countries such as Sri Lanka, South Korea and Bangladesh, where small-scale farming is common.[5]

The best evidence comes from Sri Lanka. After the introduction of HHPs into small-scale rural agricultural practice in the 1960s, the suicide rate among those above 8 years of age increased from 5/100 000 in the 1960s to 57/100 000 population in 1995.[6] The pesticide registrar started banning HHPs (parathion and methyl parathion) in 1984 and in 1995 all WHO Class I toxicity pesticides were banned ...

Language: en