Counter affidavit filed in the Supreme Court of India dated 29/07/2011 by the Department of Agriculture in re: Endosulfan - W.P.(C) NO.213/2011 Democratic Youth Federation of India Vs. Union of India & Ors.

CSE welcomes the shift in Indian government's position on on endosulfan at the Stockholm Convention and wants government to expedite the phase out as its health hazards are now known & accepted.

The draft document of the Contact Group takes note of the recommendations by the POPRC to list technical endosulfan, its related isomers and endosulfan sulfate in Annex A of the convention, with specific exemptions. The group is yet to deliberate on pest-crop complex and the countries that have requested for the exemption.

India has submitted the National Implementation Plan of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs). MoEF will coordinate its implementation & the activities will spread over a period of 12 years from 2011-2022.

The chemical industry produces over 100,000 chemicals which have improved the quality of our lives. These chemicals are being produced for purposes ranging from fulfilling domestic and industrial needs, boosting agriculture, making our clothing fire resistant and producing components for our mobile phones or other electronic devices. Every day new chemicals are formulated and produced.

The objective of the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (SC) is to protect human health and the environment from POPs. Article 7 of the SC calls for the development of the National Implementation Plan (NIP) that discusses how Parties aim to meet their obligations under the SC. This document has been developed by MoEF to provide an understanding of what measures India aims to undertake in this regard.

A systematic and authoritative global review of the impacts of climate change on the dynamics and toxicity of POPs has been released jointly by the Secretariat of the Stockholm Convention and the Arctic Monitoring and Assessment Programme (AMAP) at the UNEP Governing Council, in February 2011.  The report of the UNEP/AMAP expert group, ‘’Climate change and POPs: Predicting the