Penny wise, Pound foolish?

Organophosphates(OPs) are chemical compounds which are the basis of many insecticides, herbicides and nerve agents. Initially developed by German researchers in the 1940s as agents of chemical warfare, they later started being used as pesticides, especially after the ban of DDT (Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) in the 1970s, as they were found to be effective, with minimum damage to the environment.

However, they are extremely toxic, and cause death in large doses. They act in a similar fashion to nerve gases, which cause paralysis followed by death. A particularly tragic incident occurred at Saran, Bihar, in 2013, when 25 children died when they were served food poisoned by these OPs as part of the midday meal scheme. The causative agent was monocrotophos, a cheap OP insecticide banned in many countries.

However, a recent study by Velmurugan and his team from the Madurai Kamaraj University in Tamil Nadu found that OPs can create trouble even in extremely small doses, when consumed on a day-to-day basis. Based on the increasing reports of diabetes in the villages around the university, they surveyed 3,080 people in rural Tamil Nadu – both diabetic and non-diabetic – and measured their exposure to OPs and their glucose intolerance.

They found that most of them were not exposed to usual risk factors of diabetes like obesity, hypercholesterolemia or physical inactivity, and that OPs are degraded by the bacteria in human intestines and the degraded by-products are converted to glucose, thus increasing blood-sugar levels.

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“Bring in those bags here”, Shanmugan called out to the labourers. “Put 50 bags here in this store, and another 50 bags in the west one. These will be for my family. Take a bag for each of you. The rest, we shall pack off to the market soon.”

The farm labourers slowly brought in the huge, heavy sacks of rice on their backs, and put them down in the store house. Shanmugan stood by, watching them with satisfaction on his face.

Suddenly his expression changed. His face turned a shade of purple, as anger clouded his features and his mind.

“Hey, you there! Stop! Can’t you see the rice trickling out from the sack you’re carrying? Look! Rice all over the floor.”

Sure enough, there was a long trail of rice grains which had oozed out from a hole in the sack. At least one-fourth of the rice in the sack seemed to have got emptied out on the way.

The labourer stooped low and mumbled an apology, trembling with fear at his employer’s wrath. Shanmugan’s manager, Vadivel, came running in, all flustered, and equally afraid. “I am sorry it happened Sir”, he said frantically, sweat running down his brow. “I’ll make sure it doesn’t happen again. Maybe a rat chewed a hole….”

“Enough!” thundered Shanmugan. “If you can’t do your work right, you can leave! All your carelessness costs me so much money! And then you complain about low wages and having to do more work! How would you like it if I gave you just half a bag of rice instead of a full one? You ungrateful servants don’t understand kindness when I show it! I don’t want to lose a single grain of rice! All of you, pick up those grains! Now!”

Quietly, the labourers and the manager bent down to pick up the grains. It was utterly petty and miserly of Shanmugan to behave that way, but who could defy the boss?

“Stop that, all of you!”, came a voice, and Shanmugan looked surprised.

Vadivel looked up. It was Shanmugan’s son, Vijay. “Uncle, what do you think you’re doing? At this age, must you do this?” Vijay gently asked Vadivel. He turned to his father, who was still frowning. “Appa, this is too much to bear. We have enough and more, yet you insist on being so miserly! Why should you complain for a few grains of rice?”

Shanmugan grunted in reply. If he ever acknowledged defeat, it was to his only son. “All of you can go home now, if you have kept the bags”, said Vijay. “It’s late, and I have some work with my father.”

Vijay led a disgruntled Shanmugan outside. “And spray those pesticides before you go home!”

Shanmugan sternly ordered his men before leaving.

“Oh, give it a rest, Appa”, said Vijay. “Let them go home. You know that the festival is around the corner, and they would all like to spend some time with their families. And all those pesticides are no good; you should stop spraying them.”

Shanmugan sighed. “It is a mistake that I got you educated. You keep coming and telling me things I do not want to hear! How do you think I became a successful farmer and businessman?

You say I am grumbling about a few grains of rice. Do you know that it is only because I have been so petty we have managed to make so much money? And the pesticides— you don’t work in the fields, so you don’t know how difficult it is to get a good crop. If I must make profits, I must use pesticides, insecticides, chemical fertilizers and what not!”

“That may be true, Appa, but we are paying a great price for this, with our health. And those who eat the rice we sell are probably affected too! And why I called you is for the same. It’s about time we went to the hospital. Your annual health check-up is due. ”

“Pah! All nonsense. Look at me! Fit as a fiddle, and so healthy at this age”, said Shanmugan proudly. “I am not like my brothers in the city. They are so plump now, eating all that fast food! We have our own fields, our own rice and our own vegetables.

Your mother’s delicious homemade Indian dishes are worth a hundred times more than the fast food they eat in the cities. It’s their eating habits that give them their diseases… am I obese? Do I have diabetes? Do I have heart problems?”

“But Appa…”
“Look, it’s the lifestyle which gives you all the diseases. Why do you think I have such loyal workers? Because I have promised them full financial support if they have any health problems. But why do you think I have promised them that?

Because it is rare for a hard-working farmer or labourer to get diseases, especially when they get a proper square meal per day. My workers and I toil in the fields all day long, just like all our ancestors have done, and I give them food and a fair day’s wage for it. And that is the secret to our good health and long life”, chuckled Shanmugan.

Vijay sighed. It was difficult to convince his father. “We still have to go to the doctor”, he repeated.

“Not until I am done with all the harvesting, storage, sales and accounts for the season”, said Shanmugan obstinately.

“Alright, as you wish”, said Vijay, giving up. “Oh, and Appa, those people from the lab came today and collected a sample of our rice again for testing, they feel all the chemicals, especially the organophosphates we use, might have long term side-effects.....”

“Why did you let them take a sample?” asked Shanmugan angrily. “Are there no other fields and no other farmers in the country? They have been doing it for quite some time now. I wonder what they’re cooking up against us. Scientists, they call themselves, but we just get a bad name!”
“No Appa, I have learnt at college that the organophosphates are harmful pesticides…” Vijay started again.

“Listen, son, I don’t mind getting you educated but the stuff you learn in a classroom can be different from ground reality. We are not going to get good crops without using pesticides at all; and anyway we don’t spray huge amounts that kill people. This small amount we spray will not hurt anyone. And don’t we eat the same food we produce? My check-up at the doctors will prove it.”

Vijay said nothing. Weeks passed, and Shanmugan finally found time for his check up at the doctor’s. A few days later, Vijay rushed home with grave news he had read in the newspaper.

“Appa, look at this, I was right! Researchers have found that the organophosphates we use as insecticides can cause diabetes, and it’s affecting everyone in our villages!”

Shanmugan looked gloomier than ever. He silently pushed his check-up report towards Vijay. He had been diagnosed with diabetes too!

“Now I must pay for as the treatment of all my workers as well as my own, I suppose”, he muttered angrily.