“When a pesticide is sprayed, the microflora of the ground such as bacteria and fungus that maintain the soil fertility either die or change to survive. The microbes turn deadly over a period of time and as the pesticide content increases so does their tolerance level. Those that can’t take the chemicals, crawl out of the soil. For example, a fungus, fuzarium, comes out of the soil and feeds on tea leaves to survive and they are killed by spraying fungicide,” he said.
The Tea Research Institute claims that the acaricides (a pesticide that kills mites and ticks), insecticides, fungicide, herbicides and bio-pesticides used in the plantations have been cleared and registered by the government’s Central Insecticides Board and Registration Committee.
But among these are many pesticides that are deadly for humans as well. Pyridaben, a pesticide, has been reported to have detrimental effects on the neurons, hormonal balance and embryonic development. Another pesticide, propargite too is harmful and it can be inhaled or absorbed through the skin.

Let us take the case of glyphosate, a highly toxic herbicide, with long and short term health outcomes. Glyphosate use is severely restricted in over 35 countries, including Sri Lanka, Netherlands, France, Colombia, Canada, Israel and Argentina. However, the Anupam Varma Committee constituted by the Ministry of Agriculture in 2013 with the mandate to review pesticide usage – including those banned or restricted in other countries and still used in India – did not include glyphosate for review, said Narasimha Reddy, director, Pesticide Action Network India (PAN India), a public interest research and advocacy non-profit organisation.
In India, glyphosate’s use is approved only for weed control in tea plantations and non-plantation areas accompanying the tea crop. But it is used with little monitoring or control across farms and plantations: a 2017 field study in seven states — Andhra Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, and West Bengal – reported a April 2020 study titled ‘Highly Hazardous Pesticide Series-State of Glyphosate Use in India‘ by PAN India. Upto 77.97% of the farmers surveyed reported glyphosate usage.
Unintended uses of glyphosate were widely observed in the study, with more than 20 non-approved uses for food and non-food crops. PAN India concluded that this pesticide’s use has soared in recent years due to the increased cultivation of genetically modified crops and labour shortages.
Respondents to the PAN study who had been exposed to glyphosate reported nausea, vomiting, dysentery, headache, fever, skin fissures, increased heart rate, eye irritation, urinary infections and so on. While it is being mixed and sprayed it could spill on to exposed skin on legs, arms and other parts of the body especially if the spraying equipment is faulty.
Over 60% of glyphosate users had not been trained in its use or the safety measures needed for handling it. The warning statements and some safety instructions on the labels were inadequate and there were no instructions on the use of PPE, except gloves, as prescribed by the Insecticide Rules 1971, said the report.