Cases / Pesticides and agrochemicals · Sri Lanka · 2008–2015
Sri Lanka's 2008–2011 pesticide bans were followed by a fall in pesticide suicides
Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.
Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
- The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
Sri Lanka banned paraquat, dimethoate and fenthion between 2008 and 2011. A 2017 PLoS One study reported that pesticide suicides fell 50% between 2011 and 2015, while rice yields did not fall.
What?
Sri Lanka banned three pesticides, paraquat, dimethoate and fenthion, between 2008 and 2011, and pesticide suicides fell after the bans. PLoS One
Where?
Sri Lanka PLoS One
When?
Bans 2008 to 2011; outcomes measured 2011 to 2015 PLoS One
Who?
Gained
- Rural residents at risk of pesticide self-poisoning — pesticide suicides fell 50% from 2011 to 2015 PLoS One
Lost
None on recordHarmed
None on recordWhy?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Government bans on three pesticides, whose combined effect the study measured together. PLoS One
6 of 6 questions answered from the record
What happened
The record, in order.
Knipe et al., in PLoS One (2017), reported that paraquat poisoning had a hospital death rate of 43%, and that Sri Lanka banned paraquat, dimethoate and fenthion.
The same study reported that between 2011 and 2015 pesticide suicides fell 50% and overall suicides fell 21%.
The same study estimated that about 937 deaths were averted in 2015, and reported that rice yields did not fall.
In court and with insurers
Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.
Lawsuits and rulings
No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.
Insurers
No insurer decision on record.
What we don't know
Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.
Nature
- Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.
Record
- None on record Not separable: the study measured the three bans together, so paraquat's own effect cannot be isolated.
- None on record Not found: data after 2015 on whether the fall in pesticide suicides continued.
Did the harm stop?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Who paid?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
Sources
Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts— Press and investigations— Communities and civil society✓ Researchers
Researchers
- Study of Sri Lanka's pesticide bans and pesticide suicides (Knipe et al.)PLoS One · 2017-03-06
Connected cases
Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
- Sri Lanka fertiliser ban Sri Lanka · 2021
- Government of Sri Lanka (Government) — here: Imposed the bans on the three pesticides; there: Imposed and lifted the 2021 chemical fertiliser ban