Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI), an industry body of pesticides manufacturers, has sought retraction of aresearch report published by Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), in September that talked about exposure to pesticides causing depression, mild cognitive impairment among agricultural workers based on a study in a West Bengal district.
In a letter to ICMR Director General Rajiv Bahl earlier this week, CCFI’s executive director Nirmala Pathrawal said that duty of care and diligence are important for all the scientists in public funded research organisations and has urged him to retract the particular study published in the Indian Journal of Medical Research.
The population-based study titled “Pesticide exposure associated with mild cognitive impairment and depression among agricultural workers: Case control study in rural India”, has identified a prevalence of 18.9 per cent of cognitive impairment with or without depression, 8.3 per cent depression with or without cognitive impairment and 1.5 per cent possible movement disorder.
