An action plan to curb misuse of agrochemicals is a must as Indian farmers are either over using or misusing them said C Parthasarathi, Principal Secretary, Agriculture, Telangana State.

Though the Government comes out with several resolutions and Acts, its often found wanting in enforcing them, he said at a one day Indo-US workshop on security of dual use agrochemicals.

The objective of the series of three workshops planned in the country is to improve the security of vulnerable locations in the supply chain of agrochemicals.

Parthasarathi urged scientists and researchers involved to work seriously in helping phase out hazardous chemicals and come out with new harmless chemicals in his address.

An important point that emerged during the discussions was that lack of knowledge of applications, inefficient training and constant supervision could lead to misuse of these chemicals. It could lead to internal and external threats which are capable of significant destruction and damage. Hence, effective policies regarding their transportation, storage, disposable etc and vigilance to check the many suspicious purchasers of these chemicals.

The Director, CSIR-IICT, S Chandrasekhar, who was the chief guest at the first workshop here said though advances in science have improved efficiencies of agrochemicals the prospect of they falling into wrong hands leading to creation of explosives was real.

Indian scenario

Agrochemicals in India are highly regulated through the insecticide Act (1968) and Insecticide rules (1971) . The dual use of agrochemicals in the world [signatories of Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) including India] are governed by the regulations of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) at The Hague, The Netherlands.

They are listed under schedules 2 and 3 of the CWC Act. The National Authority on Chemical Weapons Convention (NACWC) is responsible for working on safety and security of dual purpose chemicals which require more attention in the light of chemical terrorism incidents happening throughout the world.

The participants for the three workshops will be drawn from agrochemicals industries, the regulating and security agencies, academic and research institutions and the government agencies and industry organizations concerned with the chemical security. The US Department of State's Chemical Security Program, Washington-DC, Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), The Oregon State University, all from USA, along with CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (CSIR-IICT), Gujarat Forensic Science University (GFSU), Gandhinagar, Gujarat University, Ahmedabad and Institute of Pesticide Formulation Technology, Gurugram, have taken a joint initiative to organize three workshops.

The Indo-US presentations on the technical and regulatory aspects will be covered in six sessions at each workshop. The focus will be on the dual use agrochemicals - the security concerns, history of attacks, their safety and security at production, storage, transport and supply chain, cyber security, evaluating and improving their security, regulatory aspects, working with law enforcing agencies and the finally 'the way forward'.

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