After Sutlej, another yet-to-be-released film has raised the hackles of a section of the Indian audience.
Titled The India Story – Slow Poison in Progress, the film captures the adverse effects of excessive pesticide use and harmful chemicals in soil on human health, eliciting a strong response from the domestic plant protection industry.
The film, starring Kajal Agarwal and Shreyas Talpade, narrates how the indiscriminate use of harmful pesticides enters the food chain through fruits and vegetables, causing deadly diseases such as cancer.
It is, according to some reports, awaiting clearance from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and is scheduled for release on July 24, 2026.
In a letter written to CBFC Chairperson Shashi Shekhar Vempati, the Agro Chem Federation of India (ACFI), which represents nearly 85 per cent of the country’s agrochemical sector, urged the CBFC to scrutinise the trailer of the film The India Story – Slow Poison in Progress, alleging that it makes unverified and scientifically unsupported claims linking modern agriculture with cancer, mortality and food safety risks.
In its representation, ACFI stated that the trailer portrays India’s agricultural and food systems in an “alarmist and sensational” manner by drawing direct causal links between modern farming practices and public health concerns without citing scientific evidence.
The industry body objected to several claims featured in the trailer, including that the nation was ‘fed 50,000-plus metric tonnes of pesticides’, that ‘one in three families battles cancer’, that ‘one to two lives are lost every 60 seconds’, and that there are ‘10,00,000-plus deaths per year due to pesticide poisoning’.
According to ACFI, these assertions are presented as facts without disclosing their source, methodology or scientific basis.
To counter the trailer’s claims, ACFI cited data from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), which estimates India’s annual pesticide consumption at around 40,094 metric tonnes.
It argued that pesticide use in agriculture does not imply consumers are ingesting pesticides and referred to Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) studies showing that more than 96.5 per cent of tested agricultural commodities comply with prescribed pesticide residue limits.
The federation also disputed the trailer’s apparent linkage between pesticide use and cancer, citing the World Health Organization’s April 2026 fact sheet identifying tobacco use, alcohol consumption, ultraviolet and ionising radiation, asbestos, arsenic, and certain biological agents as major cancer risk factors. It said the WHO does not identify agricultural produce as a direct cause of cancer.
On mortality figures, ACFI referred to the National Crime Records Bureau’s Accidental Deaths and Suicides in India 2024 report, which recorded 41,818 deaths associated with pesticide poisoning, of which 7,821 were attributed to accidental intake of insecticides or pesticides. It said presenting large numerical figures without context risks misleading the public.
The federation warned that portraying Indian food as “slow poison” could undermine public confidence, stigmatise farmers, damage the credibility of India’s food safety regulators, and adversely affect agricultural exports by providing ammunition to foreign regulators and competing exporters.
While acknowledging the importance of freedom of expression, ACFI said films dealing with public health and food safety must be supported by credible scientific evidence.
“In light of the foregoing, we respectfully request the Central Board of Film Certification to undertake a thorough examination of the trailer and the film, particularly the statistical, scientific and public health-related claims contained therein, and to ensure that any misleading, exaggerated, unverified, or unsupported content is appropriately addressed before certification and public exhibition,” the ACFI letter stated.
