Mr.Munisamy, I.A.S, Nagai District Collector was appraised over phone of the role of ExNoRa during the current festival namely support to the Town Panchayat , Health Department and others with special reference to data collection of the actual number of visitors to the festival so that it will be useful for preparation of the CSP. The Collector appreciated the move and hoped ExNoRa team will be there during the festival.

Met Mr.Raghunathan, Executive Engineer - TWAD board (Operation and Maintenance) who said that normally Vailankanni was supplied 7 lakh litres of water daily and during festival 3.5 lakhs of additional supply daily. This was based on a TWAD board norm of 10 litres per head during festivals of similar nature in different parts of the State. This was in addition to about 20,000 litres supplied normally daily to the Church which went up to about 60,000 litres during the festival.

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Sri.V.Ganapathy, Liaison Officer – ExNoRa International and Mr.Vijayanad presented the salient features of National Urban Sanitation Policy of Govt. of India, status of State Sanitation Strategy and the preparation of City Sanitation Plans (CSP) by identified Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) in the state.

A case study presentation on the sanitation improvement measures at Musiri Town Panchayat was made by Sri. V.Ganapathy.

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Friend of the Human Race is discussing potential hosts’ needs and capacities with a network of NGOs and councils in Tamil Nadu. It is envisaged that through these contacts, public health professionals on the FHR Register will be able to get involved in sanitation research, mapping, planning and development throughout India.

There will also be opportunities in health and safety, solid waste management, wastewater treatment, food safety and agriculture.

FHR will contact professionals on the Register to connect them with prospective hosts soon. Professionals signed up or about to join the Register are invited to express an interest in working in India.

The scheme will be replicated in other countries, on a range of public health topics. FHR is also offering four bursaries to Indian professionals, in two pairs. One pair will be offered through Peoples-uni, a provider of low cost e-learning on public health. FHR and Peoples-uni are already jointly offering a pair of bursaries in Haiti, and are still searching for suitable applicants.

The second pair of Indian bursaries will enable two individuals to undertake training in organic agriculture, following a request from an NGO. This will be offered as a five-day residential course, through the Biodynamic Association of India.

FHR secretary Stewart Petrie says: ‘The Register is still open to new people and still growing. It’s time to work hard to develop opportunities for our Register members, after all they’re offering their skills, time and energy, and they’re ready to learn.

‘This is the exciting part of the FHR programme. It will really help this network take off.’

He adds: ‘FHR is also expanding its bursary offer. We’re offering four bursaries in India and another in Haiti, to make that a pair. That’s six in total.

‘Bursaries are offered in pairs so students working in different but associated organisations can support each other. The goal is to foster inter- organisational learning and co-operation. It’s another way to improve networking and build capacity. ‘We hope students, workers and hosts alike will remain part of the FHR network as they grow as people and as professionals.’

> www.peoplesuni.org
> www.biodynamics.in
> friend-of-the-human-race.org/what-we-do

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The 60th Annual education symposium of the California Environmental Health Association took place in Ventura Beach this month. A varied programme saw excellent attendance with over 456 attendees. The requirement for continuing education credits may well have had something to do with this.

Keynote speakers each morning fired delegates up for the day. Dr Chuck Wall inspired with stories of ‘irrational acts of kindness’ in typically amusing and self- deprecating style. Jason MacDonald left his native Canada to enjoy the balmier weather of California. He described his African experiences in ‘Notes from the roof of the world.’ The packed programme included climate change,pool safety, lead in housing, drinking water and food hygiene.

The social networking was also well-organised and busy. A harbour cruise, Hollywood themed banquet and Mexican buffet were the more formal manifestations of this. But the bar, coffee shop and courtyards were filled with people discussing all manner of things to do with environmental and public health, from Africa to Ecuador, Alaska to Mexico. Western Exterminator, a pest control company, were even dispensing edible salt and vinegar flavoured fried crickets.

Doug Turner, a stalwart of CEHA,was attending his 48th consecutive AES. His 49th opportunity will be in April 2012 in Sacramento.

News digest India

Chain reaction

Learning lessons from the Fukushima nuclear accident, Indian nuclear power stations may soon have arrangements to bring extra water to reactors in case of emergency overheating. New technology would ensure automatic shutdown of reactors on sensing seismic activity and additional shore protection would be installed at Madras and Tarapur. Extra hook-up points to fetch water would be created for spent fuel pools at six older reactors at Tarapur, Rajasthan and Madras. These are the outcomes of the Nuclear Power Corporation of India’s safety review, undertaken after Fukushima at the behest of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.

Deccan Herald, April 13 2011

Nuclear bond

Kazakhstan has announced it will supply 2,100 tonnes of uranium to India’s nuclear plants by 2014 as India plans a fivefold increase in energy production in the near future. The two nations have been co-operating in civilian nuclear power since January 2009, when Nuclear Power Corporation of India Ltd and Kazakh firm KazAtomProm signed a Memorandum of Understanding during Kazakh PM Nursultan Nazarbaev’s India visit. Under the contract, KazAtomProm supplies uranium to Indian nuclear reactors. Kazakhstan has already supplied 200 tonnes of uranium to India. India is exploring possibilities for joint uranium exploration in Kazakhstan.

Industrial Fuels and Power, April 18 2011

Superbug shrug

The Indian government misleadingly claimed drug-resistant bacteria in water from Delhi posed no threat to public health, Indian and British microbiologists said. The scientists said officials had disregarded studies revealing emergence of similar bacteria in India over five years ago. British microbiologists last week reported finding bacteria with the New Delhi metallo-beta lactamase (NDM1) gene, which makes them resistant to carbapenems, last resort antibiotics. Senior Indian officials claimed discovery of NDM1 bacteria in water did not reflect patterns of drug resistance, and carbapenem resistance was not a serious problem. ‘Indian health officials are being incredibly and dangerously complacent,’said Mark Toleman, microbiologist at Cardiff University and co-author of the study, published in Lancet Infectious Diseases.

Calcutta Telegraph, April 17 2011

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Famous for its lush banana groves, the town is laced with irrigation channels and drains. They serve the farms that stretch southwards from the river and help flush human waste away from the urban area.

But as settlements built up around Kulithalai, the amount of waste in the environment increased – a problem all too common throughout India. Until recently there was no effective rubbish collection in the municipality. Litter strewn on roads and in fields blocked water channels, leading to spiralling environmental problems.

Vijay Anand of local NGO ExNoRa explains: ‘People were throwing garbage on the ground. It clogged the drains and the water stagnated. Once it stagnated, lots of mosquitoes started breeding. People were getting bitten. It was a huge problem.

‘Before, the channels were running properly, but they became contaminated with solid and liquid waste. Kulithalai used to be famous for bananas. Suddenly it was famous for mosquitoes.’

The chairman of Kulithalai Municipal Council, Thiru A Amuthavel, wanted to deal with the root cause of the problem. He approached ExNoRa, which is active in solid waste management elsewhere in southern India, and requested it take on a municipal contract.

The charity refused. Its policy, it said, was to build local capacity, helping urban bodies like the council manage these issues themselves.

Instead the council employed ExNoRa staff as consultants, and together they assessed the town’s systems and problems and started to identify appropriate solutions.

For ExNoRa, Kulithalai was an ideal opportunity to work with established bodies: ‘We have to target the right people,’ says programme co-ordinator Vijay Anand. ‘We must deal with people who can decide. If the right person is convinced, we give him a lot of exposure to different things and this exposure gives him confidence.

‘It’s a model learning experience for us. Mr Amuthavel is a practical person, but others have to be interested. The council comprises 24 people. We had a meeting for them, and offered them the same insights.’

Mr Amuthavel, a commerce graduate, became Tamil Nadu’s youngest ever municipal chairman in 2006, aged 29. Now, at the age of 33, he continues to represent ruling party Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) as chair of Kulithalai Municipality.

‘I want to clean up politics, and the environment,’ he says. ‘If you have political will, you can.’

Independently, and with ExNoRa’s support, he studied solid waste management and public health, often focusing on biological solutions. He shared his conclusions with his fellow councillors and they agreed to invest municipal funds in a radical two-year solid waste management programme, and to renew funding if the programme proved a success.

In 2009 Kulithalai began a new chapter. Municipal staff removed all litter bins from the streets and began collecting rubbish from each household, daily.

‘We don’t give an opportunity for people to throw garbage on the road,’ says Mr Amuthvelu.

They contacted residents in batches to show them the benefits of the new system and teach them how to segregate rubbish. They went into schools and spoke to students and teachers, and met with traders, doctors and other health workers, discussing with them how solid waste management could help prevent illness.

The 28 municipal staff who implement the programme were renamed ‘street beautifiers,’ given a pay rise and offered financial incentives for segregating useful material. ‘We trained them, convinced them and gave them dreams,’ says Mr Amuthavel. ‘In some quarters it was controversial.’

Kulithalai street beautifiers are traditionally from the Adi Andhra scheduled tribe, which originates from Andhra Pradesh. The team sees improving solid waste management as an opportunity to improve working conditions and respect for this scheduled caste, members of which were once considered ‘untouchable.’

The team appointed local women to monitor waste collection. These ‘link volunteers’ score each household according to how well they segregate biodegradable and non- biodegradable waste. Their records show that less than 20 per cent of residents sort their rubbish effectively; not an unexpected starting point for a town new to source-segregation.

National Service Scheme (NSS)students help educate residents, using data collected by link volunteers to identify homes that need extra help.

Segregated waste is deposited at collection points. Here street beautifiers separate plastic, paper and other recyclables and bag them.

Cows consume some biodegradable waste, and recyclables are taken to the municipal office to be weighed, recorded, and sorted into saleable and non-saleable material. Saleable material is baled, stored and sold to a scrap merchant.

The remaining biodegradable waste is diverted to compost, which is sold for Rs.3,000/- per tonne. At Kulithalai’s compost yard, the municipality is experimenting with different methods of vermicomposting, along with tree planting.

After nine months of daily collections and vigorous campaigning, the water in Kulithalai started flowing again. Waste management had become cost-effective, thanks to income from sales of compost and recyclables. Segregation, recycling and vermicomposting had replaced dumping and burning.

Streets and drains are now free of litter, and Kulithalai Municipal Council is providing solid waste services in compliance with the Indian government’s Municipal Solid Wastes (Management and Handling) Rules, 2000.

‘It’s not a project, it’s a programme,’ says Mr Anand. ‘It’s open-ended, there’s no timeline. ‘Behaviour change should go with infrastructure development, and residents should be informed in a way that they understand. We’ve established good systems.’

Building on their partnership, the team has diversified into liquid waste management. The council has retained ExNoRa programme staff as solid waste consultants, and included liquid waste in their brief.

They began by studying sanitary systems using sanitation mapping software, with support from municipal funds. Their research showed that Decentralized Wastewater Treatment Solutions(DEWATS), as developed by the Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA) and others, could solve many of the town’s problems. This technical approach aims to provide state-of-the-art-technology at affordable prices, using locally available materials. Applications are low-maintenance, as most important parts of these systems work without technical energy inputs.

Kulithalai is currently at the pilot stage in implementing DEWATS. The partnership has established a range of low-cost waste water treatment systems and is welcoming new and creative solutions.

One simple demonstration project provides 42 houses with a collection pipe, diverting sewage from an open 1.5 metre-wide irrigation canal. The150 metre-long pipe collects waste water, which flows into a ‘root zone,’ an area of constructed wetlands.

Mr Amathavel paid for the pipeline with his personal funds, to the tune of Rs.22,000/-. He admits that, as well as helping clean up the environment, it provides welcome political mileage.

At his home, he is demonstrating another DEWATS system, employing microbial technology in a series of chambers attached to his toilet. Again he is using his own funds.

The programme also provides opportunities for commercial and non- profit organisations to invest in the town which, Mr Amuthavel says, encourages new ideas and spreads the cost of programme development.

For example, international voluntary organisation the Auroville Centre for Scientific Research is designing a vortex system on low lying land in Kulithalai. It employs microbial technology in waste water, which flows quickly through a series of not only functional, but architecturally attractive, chambers.

‘We have plenty of water,’ says Mr Anand. ‘We have enough resources. It’s how we use them. India’s problem s mismanagement of resources. On average, 21 per cent of sewage is treated, and 79 per cent is getting into water.

In Kulithalai, the emphasis is on appropriate technology. The partnership’s approach characterises city sanitation as a big cake consisting of lots of small problems.

By combining waste collection, recycling, pipes and drains, constructed wetlands, vortex systems, microbial additives and other technologies, the team believes it can solve all Kulithalai’s waste and sanitation problems, one by one.

ExNoRa is now working with Pudukottai, Sirkali, Rasipuram, Thanjavur and Perambalur councils, with the aim of replicating the Kulithalai model.

If you bring the building blocks together you can see the whole picture,says Mr Anand. ‘For every problem there’s a solution. Our job is to make people aware of their options and encourage them solve their own problems.

Practical leadership with the power and will to do it is important. Pilots help people believe it’s possible and then they start co-operating. A holistic approach takes into account wider issues.

Mr Amuthavel adds: India needs more young politicians who think progressively for the benefit of the people. These solutions are replicable and adaptable. Kulithalai’s approach can give people the confidence to implement appropriate solutions in their areas.

The NGO approach is wrong,’ says Mr Anand. We work with the government. It may be a little slow initially but they can do it effectively because they have massive reach. If we join hands with the government and synergise our efforts we can reach 100 million people.’

> municipality.tn.gov.in/kulithalai
> exnora.org
> exnora.in
> cddindia.org
> borda-net.org

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India’s drive to increase food exports is being impeded by pesticide residues unacceptable in importing countries. Meanwhile, produce on the domestic market is frequently contaminated with residues exceeding less stringent limits.

In 2010, the European Union rejected three okra consignments from India due to high levels of Monocrotophos, Acephate and Triazaphos. All three of these pesticides can cause headaches, vomiting, nausea, abdominal cramps and cardiac problems. Their EU Maximum Residue Limit is 0.03mg/kg, but tests revealed levels of 0.13mg/kg.

India’s MRL for Monocrotophos is considerably higher at 0.2mg/kg, but it is recommended only for use on cotton crops, as it is toxic to birds and humans. Neverthless, levels detected in food for sale on the domestic market are far higher than for exports.

The Food Safety and Standards Agency of India’s report, Summary of Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level, released last November, reported Okra from Gujarat had residues of 0.305mg/kg, and levels in okra from Haryana were 1.046mg/kg, over five times the MRL.

Eurofins laboratory, Hamburg, tested Indian basmati and non-basmati rice and found Cabenenzum and Isoprothiolane at three times the European Commission MRL of 0.01mg/kg. Exports of Indian basmati rice alone are worth around $300m per year.

Indian rice exporters complained that the MRL had been reduced, but they were given five years’ notice before the change just over a year ago.

The Indian Ministry of Commerce and Industry’s drive to increase grape exports from 37,000 to 44,000 tonnes is being hampered by differing MRLs in exporting countries. The export season for Indian grapes is short, at only six to seven weeks. Last year, exports to the EU were threatened by a deadlock caused by Chlormequat, just one of 98 pesticides for which grape consignments to the EU are tested.

Germany and the Netherlands upheld stringent standards and did not clear imports. In May, containers of grapes rejected by the Netherlands, one of the largest buyers of Indian grapes, were left rotting at Rotterdam port. The UK and Sweden allowed import of Indian grapes by introducing their own MRL.

Use of Chlormequat is not permitted in the EU, but the European Food Safety Association helped importers by stating that Indian grapes with Chlormequat residues were unlikely to pose a health risk at concentrations below 1.06mg/kg. It did, however, raise the concern that children eating a large amount of such grapes in a short period might suffer acute symptoms, including vomiting, nausea, abdominal pain and headache. A child weighing 16.15kg needed to eat just 211.5g of grapes to be at risk, it said. No warning was issued in the UK.

In August 2010, to ensure traceability of table grapes exported to the EU, India’s Agricultural and Processed Products Export Development Authority launched GrapeNet. This web-based software enables importers to view inspection reports, including pesticide residue analyses.

Unfortunately, India’s domestic market is not subjected to such vigilance. Summary of Monitoring of Pesticide Residues at National Level lists samples from 13 states across India in 2008 and 2009 which tested above MRLs set by India’s 1954 Prevention of Food Adulteration Act.

This FSSAI report, which was produced by the Government of India Department of Agriculture and the Indian Agricultural Research Institute, details how four out of 25 pesticides banned in India for use, manufacture, import and export were found in produce for sale on the domestic market.

Aldrin, it says, was detected in brinjal, cauliflower, tomato, okra, banana, apple, wheat and milk. Chlordane, which is banned in 47 countries, was found in apples, bananas and cabbage.

Chlorfenvinfos was detected in bitter gourd, cabbage, cauliflower, tomatoes, rice and wheat. Heptachlor was detected in brinjal, okra, tomatoes, rice, milk and butter.

These four substances are among the persistent organic pollutants (POPs) identified by the Stockholm Convention as the ‘dirty dozen.’ They remain in tact for long periods and accumulate in the fatty tissues of animals and people.

Testing Indian food has also revealed pesticides subject to restricted use. DDT is not supposed to be used on vegetable crops, but was found in tomatoes in Uttar Pradesh at over 100 times the MRL. Fenpropathrin is not recommended for use on tea plants, but was detected in Assam tea at more than twice the CODEX MRL of 2ppm.

And India’s people consume pesticides which are legal in their country but banned elsewhere. Lindane is banned in Finland, Indonesia, Korea, Netherlands, New Zealand, Saint Lucia and Sweden because its toxicity affects acute and chronic health problems. It has been linked to breast cancer and blood disorders. In India, traces of Lindane have been found in poultry and tomatoes.

Cypermethrin is legal in India but has been banned in sheep dip in the UK since 2006. The Indian MRL for Cypermethrin is 0.2mg/kg, but it was detected in pork in Mumbai at 15 times this level.

Repeated detection of high levels of pesticide residues is undermining confidence in India’s food exports, and there is a growing outcry from India’s own people over failure to meet lower standards set for the home market.

Rose Bridger worked on environmental policy and local Agenda 21 in the UK before developing markets for local food, including direct outlets like farmers markets and public procurement in schools and hopsitals. She is currently writing a book on the environmental and economic impacts of aviation expansion, focussing on cargo.

http://indiaenvironmentportal.org.in/ content/summary-monitoring pesticide-residues-national-level
fruitnet.com/content.aspx?cid=6604
apeda.gov.in/apedawebsite/ Archive/GrapeNet

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Availability of organically grown vegetables is very low in India. Much of India’s organically grown crops are destined for export.

In general, farmers hesitate to adopt organic farming due to fear and lack of information about how to control pest and disease attacks.

Pest and disease attacks occur mainly due to bad cultivation practices. Prevention is better than cure. To avoid problems, primarily steps have to be taken to increase long term soil fertility. Increased soil fertility means balanced nutrition and growth, with vigour and resistance to infestation and disease. To improve soil fertility, spray soil with well-rotted and sanitised manure.

In biodynamic agriculture we use a preparation called horn manure. This is cow dung, matured underground in cow horns over winter. This process increases availability of a wide range of nutrients for plants and soil.

Other soil improvement methods include applying good compost or vermicompost,incorporating homegrown green manure once a year, adopting a system of crop rotation and applying biofertilisers, for example nitrogen-fixing Azospirillum and Rhizobium, potash mobiliser, silica mobiliser and vesicular- arbuscular mycorrhizal (VAM) fungi,which can aid nutrient uptake.

It is important to avoid adding excess nitrogen, for example by frequent application of cow dung slurry, raw cow dung soil or cow urine. Secondly, quality of seeds and seedlings should be optimised. Quality of available seeds can be improved by proper selection and care of the mother plant.

On Biodynamic farms, prior to sowing, seeds are soaked in a solution of cow pat pit (CPP) manure, a special compost made from cow manure, powdered eggshell and basalt dust, fermented with herbal preparations. Tests of CPP show a wide range of beneficial fungi and bacteria proliferate in it during fermentation.

Plants sprayed with the biodynamic silica preparation BD501 at four or five leaf stage show improved resistance to pests and diseases. Integrated pest and disease management means selecting adapted and resistant varieties, using clean seed and planting materials and choosing optimum planting and sowing times, as well as planting with adequate spacing and managing water carefully.

Field hygiene is critical. Heavily infected plant parts should be burned, insects and their eggs and larvae should be physically removed and destroyed, dropped and decaying fruit should be removed and put in the centre of the compost heap and overgrown weeds should be slashed and used in compost.

During the early period of conversion to organic practice, while soil is weak, crops suffer from pest and disease attacks, so it is advisable to adopt physical and biological control measures. In vegetable cultivation, new hybrid varieties susceptible to pests and diseases demand plant protection.

Bio-pesticides are ecologically safe, reduce the number of applications necessary and do not result in resistance in insects. Trichoderma harzianum and T viride are fungi that control fungal pathogens including Pythium, Rhizoctonia and Fusarium. Bacillus creeus and Bacilllus subtelis control leaf diseases such as Pytophthora root rot of alfalfa and quick wilt of pepper. Pseudomonas fluorescens bacterium deals with bacterial blotch, leaf spots,sheath rot and collar rot.

Sticky traps for controlling and monitoring insects are easily made by cutting 3x5in rectangles of plywood or study cardboard, painting them and fixing them to stakes or hanging them from wire supports.

Spread motor oil, plant resin or petroleum jelly on the board, leaving a small space uncoated for easy handling. Use yellow for aphids, cabbage root maggot, carrot rust fly, cabbage white butterfly, cucumber beetle, onion fly, thrips and whiteflies, bright blue for thrips and white for flea beetles and tarnished plant bugs.

Light traps help monitor and control moths and other night flying insects. They are easily constructed with readily available materials and a little resourcefulness.

Herbal extracts are powerful, and should be used only as a final remedy. Plants such as neem, tobacco, devil’s trumpet, ginger, turmeric and chrysanthemum can be devastating to insect populations.

To be self sufficient, develop herbal plant resources by raising them as hedges along the fence and in waste areas like slopes, gullies and rocky patches.

To make herbal extract, macerate and grind the plant material, soak it, allow it to stand for three to five days, filter and add water to create the final spray solution. Fully drench the plant at least once or twice a year.

Use at least two or three different materials in any extract, and change the combination every time.

With careful monitoring, trap crops planted at the perimeter or between rows can help protect crops by attracting pests away. The trap crop must be more attractive to the pest than the crop itself.

Prune or remove trap crops when pests become established. Spray the trap crops with herbal extract if the population continues to increase.

Pest and disease management should be carried out in a holistic way, by properly planning farming practice. Rather than searching for remedies let’s try to identify the root cause and rectify it by correct farming methods.

Jaison J Jerome is an organic agriculture consultant and leads training for the Biodynamic Association of India.

www.biodynamics.in

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When we think of hygiene, we think of getting rid of microbes. Hygiene equals absence of microbes or ‘germs.’

This is reinforced by advertisements for cleaning agents and pest control inputs in journals and cinema, on hoardings and on TV. However, their application is limited, and cleaning and pest-control agents often add to environmental pollution.

There is a historical background and logic to this prevailing attitude. And there is a way out of the conventional approach.

As recently as the mid-nineteenth century, conscientious physicians in Europe were obliged to warn their patients against all forms of surgery. More patients died from surgery, due to infections caused by the doctor, than from the disease for which they underwent it.

Modern surgery could only take off when disinfectants were discovered, by Semmelweis and by Lister, and when Lister introduced phenol (carbolic acid) into mainstream medicine. The discovery of microbe-killing substances, or biocides, was a breakthrough for surgery and medicine.

When a surgeon could kill all micro-organisms on the patch of skin through which his knife was to enter the patient’s body, surgery was rendered hygienically safe. Only then, in the late 1870’s, could modern surgery start its rapid and glorious course from operations on appendix, hernia, gall-bladder and stomach, to open heart surgery, organ transplants, limb replacements and endoscopic, minimally invasive surgery.

However, it is unwise and unhealthy to regard annihilation of all microbes on the body surface as a step towards physical health and hygiene. It is harmful to make this the basis for household hygiene, and it is ecologically disastrous to pursue it in the environment.

In 2006/07 Ekoventure, a Puducherry-based NGO, organised farmers to grow marigolds for use in eye medicine, a high-value crop where each petal counts. After using EM on soil and foliage, farmer Ezhumalai harvested over double his expected yield from his fields in Anumandai, Tamil Nadu.

In the same way agriculture has become a major polluter, ‘hygiene’ contributes heavily to the burden on the environment. Not only do we discharge excessive amounts of liquid and solid waste into soil and water, making rivers and lakes open sewers unfit for fishing, household, agricultural and recreational use, we also undermine nature’s mechanisms for self-purification and revival by killing the organisms responsible for recycling elements.

Microbes are pretty much everywhere on this globe. They are several kilometres inside the earth, in rocks and volcanoes and in thermal vents in the deep sea.

Unicellular organisms were the first forms of life, 3.8 billion years ago. They were the precursors to higher organisms, and helped make the globe’s atmosphere fit for higher life forms.

They protect our skin, our bodily orifices and our digestion. They are responsible for the development of our immune system, manufacture of vitamins and uptake of nutrients and calories from food.

While our bodies contain maybe a trillion cells, it has been estimated that there are hundreds of trillions of microbes in our gut.

Although Louis Pasteur discovered that the organisms of yeast were responsible for the formation of alcohol, microbiology originally progressed through the discovery of disease- causing germs.

Modern microbiologists know that, in comparison to the total number of microbial species – unidentified and identified – the number of pathogens is negligible. Humans have to live with and amongst microbes, and efforts to eliminate them are based on misconceptions of biology and health.

There is another approach to hygiene besides biocidal warfare, and one of the alternatives available is EM technology,a brand developed in Japan for use in agriculture and beyond.

EM, Effective Microorganisms,is a liquid culture with three genera of microorganisms; lactobacilli (as found in yoghurt and Sauerkraut), yeast(as used to make bread, beer and wine) and photosynthetic or phototrophic bacteria (as in some pickles and cheeses). All occur widely in nature on all continents.

These organisms have not been modified by genetic engineering. They are easy to handle and cause no harm even if accidentally ingested. In India, where I live, EM is easily affordable.

The father of EM technology is Prof Teruo Higa, an agriculturist from Okinawa, Japan. He discovered that some symbiotic aerobic and anaerobic organisms jointly exhibit stronger and more interesting properties than the individual organisms on their own. He went public with his product in Japan in 1982, and launched it internationally in 1989. EM is now manufactured in about 50 countries and used in about 150.

EM was initially developed for the agricultural sector. Its users claim it improves the quantity and quality of crops, affecting their taste, scent, color intensity and longevity. Early users also reported its power to counteract ‘rot, stink and rust.' If EM can control the fouling of organic debris, it can control associated pest nuisance, including flies and cockroaches, and the spread of pathogens.

It became obvious that EM could be utilised for composting and solid waste management, and for sewage and effluent treatment. And if EM is anti- oxidant or anticorrosive, it can also find use in medical and technical contexts.

Thus EM is used in agriculture and horticulture, in animal husbandry and aquaculture, in composting and solid waste management, in sewage and effluent treatment, in environmental rehabilitation of wastelands and of eutrophicated water bodies, and in management of hygiene.

EM is available as EM1 or so-called EM stock solution. This contains the microbes in a dormant state, as spores, and has a shelf life of twelve months. It needs to be activated or extended by mixing one part EM1 with one part molasses and twenty parts of water.

This mixture needs to be placed in an airtight container of food-grade plastic and kept undisturbed in a shaded place of stable temperature to ferment for between five and 14 days. Because of gas development during fermentation, metal or glass containers cannot be used. The pressure building up in the container needs to be released once a day.

When the pH has dropped to below 4, activated EM solution (AEM) is ready for use. AEM should be used within one month.

In agriculture, AEM is diluted in the range of 1:500 to 1:1,000, in wastewater treatment from 1:500 to 1:several thousands. In my experience, wherever its use has benefits, EM proves cost-efficient.

The hygienic need of our bodies and surroundings is not sterility, but cleanliness, and freedom from unpleasant odours and aggressively virulent microbes. It makes no sense to try to establish aseptic conditions on a floor – including a hospital floor – as every foot or shoe walking over brings millions of organisms.

It is indeed an effect of aggressive hospital hygiene that the most virulent microbes have developed resistance against all antibiotics and disinfectants and now threaten the life of in-patients more than any microbe outside hospital surroundings.

If we are ready to accept an eco- friendly approach to hygiene, beneficial microbes may be used to replace most cleaning agents. Instead of killing all life- forms, they establish themselves against pathogens and create an environment in which pathogens are not fostered.

One must first dispense with all biocidal hygiene agents, including disinfectants and chlorine. Initially some people will miss the scents added to these conventional agents.

EM applied on toilets and in bathrooms dispels unpleasant odors within seconds. It is effective on floors, walls, shelves and cupboards. It controls the development of fungus and mouldy odours, and eliminates fly nuisance and cockroaches, which can act as vectors of pathogens.

At Winner Dairy, a milk products factory near Puducherry, neighbours were complaining of a strong smell of sour milk. Introducing EM into the factory’s effluent treatment plant, through activated EM solution and EM bokashi balls, encouraged effective decomposition. Within a few weeks, the odours had reduced to insignificant levels.

AEM solution is diluted in the range 1:50 to 1:200 for floor surfaces. After about two weeks, tiled surfaces appear shiny. However, surfaces that are damaged by acids such as vinegar, for example certain soft stones, will also suffer from undiluted, highly acidic AEM.

Use a household sprayer to apply undiluted AEM in toilets and urinals, preferably late at night, and leave it overnight without flushing. Wash all surfaces, for example toilet bowls, urinals, sinks, floors and walls, with diluted AEM as frequently as it was done with other cleaning agents. For stain removal use detergent or soap, then use AEM in the last wash.

Both the World Health Organization ecosan (ecological sanitation) toilets. Microbes can be used in these systems to help ensure effective composting of human waste.

The technology has two major advantages over sewerage-based systems; it reduces the need for water and produces useful, sanitised compost. Recent surveys have estimated there are about 150 ecosan toilets in Germany and around 20,000 in India.

Long-term use of the right microbes has beneficial side effects. Wastewater gets inoculated, reducing the burden on any treatment plant and the environment and facilitating re-use of wastewater.

Microbes can help close natural ecological loops, transforming liquid and solid wastes into resources and facilitating quick, easy re-use of treated and processed waste materials on site.

With microbial technology, hygiene, composting, farming, gardening and wastewater treatment become eco- friendly practices.

Dr Lucas Dengel trained in medicine at the University of Mainz, Germany. He has 20 years experience in public hygiene, focusing on environmental and public health. He has co-ordinated Unicef programs addressing water management in Tamil Nadu schools and produced educational materials about sanitation and water management. He founded AuroAnnam in 2000, to promote and demonstrate organic farming. In 2007 he founded EcoPro, a business promoting EM technology and ecological approaches to agriculture and management of wastes and biological resources.

www.emrojapan.com, www.ecopro.in

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Early in my career we used chemicals like Glyphosate, Monocrotophos, Cypermethrin and also Endosulphan, which is now illegal in India. They were commonly used for controlling weeds, thrips and other insect pests in tea estates.

Soon after my second child was born, I sprayed Monocrotophos all over my official residence because during the night, beetles had flocked to the house lights from a nearby rubber plantation. I got many barrels of dead insects, and left the doors open for a week. I did that myself.

By the end of 2001 I began to suffer with a lump in my throat. I was finding it difficult to swallow, and went to my doctor for advice. I was diagnosed with Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma CD 20+, a strain that cannot be controlled with chemotherapy alone. He prescribed monoclonal antibodies in combination with chemotherapy, and I have been well since.

According to my own internet research, including research papers from the National Cancer Institute and others, it is understood that NHL can be caused by exposure to weedicides, pesticides and nitrates in drinking water.

Immediately I made the link. I was exposed to pesticides for years together. We visited fields where pesticides had been used every day. For me, inhalation of pesticides and weedicides was normal.

I know the effect of pesticides now, but I wasn’t as aware then. When I look back I realise how dangerous our practices were. On the plantations, we gave out masks when people were spraying, but the smell only stays for a short time and then people think it’s safe.

I saw pesticides that were banned in Kerala arriving from other states and being used, and banned chemicals marketed under other names.

The Spices Board, under the Indian Ministry of Commerce, has done a lot to make growing spices safer. It’s much better than it was, but farm and plantation managers are not receiving proper training. Agriculture graduates aren’t really taught the ill effects of pesticides in college.

I still see pesticides being overused. For example, cardamom is very difficult to grow organically. People often spray pesticides unscientifically on cardamom farms.

It took a pay cut to work for PDS Organic Spices, but it was the right choice. It was an ethical decision. I’m for the small and marginal farmers. Some can’t go organic because they can’t afford to. You can’t blame the farmers.

On an organic farm you can feel the difference. The plants are healthy, the animals are healthy and the family is healthy.

Binu Joseph is agricultural officer for Peermade Development Society, an NGO which works for integrated rural development in Idukki District, Kerala.

PDS set up Sahyadri Farmers Consortium in 1997 to market farm products for export and provide technical assistance and training in organic spice cultivation.pdspeermade.com

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In areas where water and fertile soil are scarce, for example, flush toilets and sewerage pipes are not the answer to sanitation problems. DEWATS solutions such as composting toilets are.

Tens of thousands of people in India now use ecosan toilets to turn human waste into a resource, rather than something to be flushed away and forgotten until the bill comes.

When it comes to food production, petrochemical-derived fertilisers and biocides have helped India leave famine behind. Now depleted soils and pesticides in foods and on farms are affecting people, places and livelihoods. A scattering of pioneers is introducing organic agriculture to a nation yet to be convinced of its merits.

The country’s solid waste management remains patchy to say the least. Indian pride and pragmatism should not allow it, but in many areas litter is endemic. Kulithalai and others are shining examples of what, hopefully, could be a culture shift.

It was inspiring to meet professionals who go that extra mile to find new and sustainable solutions to widespread problems, solutions that can often be adapted, replicated and scaled up.

And it was interesting to see how these people networked with and supported each other, knowing that these issues are inextricably linked.

Marie-Claire Kidd, editor, Friends

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Friends is designed by Jeffrey Bowman and edited by Marie-Claire Kidd. We would be delighted to hear from you. Please send papers, comments and contributions to Friends at hiyamc@googlemail.com

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