I am writing to you to bring to your attention the
terrible affect upon our environment, our future 
and the quality of our lives that chemical pollution
is having.

A recent report by the Centre for Science and 
Environment has shown that the residents of Padre 
village in Kerala have been poisoned by endosulfan, 
a pesticide that the government's Plantation 
Corporation of Kerala has been spraying for years
in its neighbouring cashew plantations. The amount
of the pesticide is shockingly high in the blood, 
milk, water, soil and food samples from the village.
A lot of unusual diseases have been reported, 
especially among children. 

Today, there are quite literally hundreds of different 
chemicals currently in use in our homes, gardens, farms 
and cities. Most of these chemicals were unknown a 
century ago; they are the products of modern science 
and technology. They have entered the air, water, soil
and foodchain. They exist in measurable quantities in 
human breast milk.

How many more dangerous chemicals are going to be 
introduced before we realise our testing procedures
are woefully inadequate? How much more money is going
to be wasted introducing new chemicals for the same old
applications before we realise that the long term cost 
to our health and our planet's health simply isn't worth 
it?

For thousands of years, Indians have used natural 
alternatives to the pesticides and herbicides that we 
spray on our surroundings today. Ancient Indian wisdom
documents safe alternatives to many of the chemical 
applications now in use.

I urge you to see that your government does all that it
can to revive the use of those alternatives wherever 
possible, and to offer incentives to industry and 
agriculture to move away from chemically dependent 
procedures towards the safer alternatives.

I request that you take steps to demonstrate your 
government's commitment to our environment and to 
the future of the Indian people.