Combating famine the fatal way

Aizawl, Oct 12 (UNI) Mizoram's forensic experts today expressed concerns over the use of rat poison by farmers, fearing that the dead rodents might spread plague.

A forensic expert told newsman here that the agriculture department had not taken adequate measures to collect the dead rats.

''The poisoned rodents will run towards the river and other water bodies thereby contaminating the water,'' the expert said.

Farmers are poisoning the rats as their numbers increased alarmingly following bamboo flowering.

The expert said this could be extremely hazardous for the people's health. The forensic expert also stressed the need for an immediate precaution by setting up a task force to check possible health hazard in the state.

''We have asked the department to give details of the poison being used by the farmers so that we can work upon the purification process of water bodies,'' the forensic department added.

Massive bamboo flowering in the state had led to the population explosion of rats which destroyed the crops, for which the state government had distributed poison to farmers to kill them.

Meanwhile, the State Disease Investigation Laboratory test revealed that highly communicable diseases had been found in the samples of vital tissues of 50 rodents from all the eight districts of the state.

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