Agriculture Department, Govt. of Maharashtra and CropLife India raises awareness amongst the medical fraternity

CropLife India, an association of 15 R& D driven crop science companies, in collaboration with the Agriculture Department, Government of Maharashtra; has reached out to the medical fraternity via a video message.

The video is aimed at disseminating the information to the doctors and reorienting them on “Recognition, Management and Treatment of Pesticide exposed patients”; ensuring medical practitioners are equipped with information and guidance to treat patients affected by pesticide poisoning.

The video message is part of CropLife India’s Stewardship program, which intends to guide the doctors to deal with accidental poisoning incidents that may occur during improper or unsafe application of agro-chemicals.

Sunil Borkar, Chief Quality Control Officer & Director, Commissionerate of Agriculture, Govt. of Maharashtra shared, “Department of Agriculture appreciates CropLife India and its member companies’ efforts to motivate farmers through implementation of awareness programmes of safety measures for spraying of pesticides in this crucial phase of COVID-19 pandemic”.

Dr. Debabrata Kanungo, a WHO- acknowledged expert, Former Chairman, Scientific Panel on Pesticide Residues and Antibiotics, Food Safety & Standards Authority of India (FSSAI), and Former Additional Director General, Ministry of Health & Farmers Welfare, Government of India; said, “CropLife India’s endeavour has been to reorient the doctors regarding handling and managing accidental poisoning case due to mishandling of pesticides. As COVID-19 has imposed restrictions on face to face meetings, this video message is an excellent and timely tool to aid the process of the requisite knowledge transfer”.

Asitava Sen, Chief Executive officer, CropLife India; shared, “CropLife India members are committed towards promoting the safe and responsible use of crop protection products through Industry stewardship initiatives. It is widely understood that safe and responsible use of crop protection products helps in safeguarding farmers’ health and encourages sustainable agriculture”.

Sen added, “CropLife India had earlier developed a digital edition for Health Practitioners Handbook and hosted it on our website. Medical Practitioners are requested to visit the CropLife India website and click on the ‘Doctors Manual’ tab on top right corner”.

The outreach focuses on reorienting the doctors on Principles of Recognition, Management and treatment of Pesticide poisoning, general principles on stabilization of a poisoned patient and dealing with basic treatment of other poisoning cases.