TRICHY: Three more cotton farmers belonging to Siruganpur village in Perambalur have been hospitalised in a continuing series of farm workers falling victim to harmful exposure of pesticides in Paerambalur and Ariyalur. Already, at least five farm workers have died in two months from medical ailments caused while spraying pesticides on BT cotton fields, investigations by advocacy groups have revealed.Perambalur GH sources identified the three farmers as Ajith, 22, Ayyakannu, 25, and Radhakrishnan, 62, all hailing from Siruganpur village. A few days ago, the farmers were spraying pesticide on their BT cotton field when the trio collapsed due to nausea and was subsequently admitted to the GH. “Ajith and Ayyakannu are in a stable state after treatments. They had breathing trouble as the pesticide got infused into the blood after heavy inhalation. Radhakrishnan was referred to Trichy GH for continuous monitoring,” a source in Perambalur GH said.Already four farmers in Perambalur district and one in Ariyalur district had lost their lives due to medical complications caused while spraying the pesticide. Though farmers had been falling sick time and again, activists said that the authorities concerned were yet to understand the gravity of the situation. They had not taken any efforts to conduct a scientific study and launch awareness measures on the issue.“More than 200 farmers have been hospitalised thus far in Perambalur district alone, but the district administration and agriculture department have not carried out the much-needed awareness activities to prevent cotton farmers from using Monocrotophos pesticide further. Government has to conduct a study so that loss of lives among the farming community can be prevented,” Saravanan Karunanidhi, joint secretary of People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL), told TOI.A fact-finding committee of PUCL including Karunanidhi had even filed a complaint with National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on finding that five farmers had lost their lives because of using a particular type of pesticide in the cotton fields of Ariyalur and Perambalur. The PUCL’s representative also added that the families of the deceased farmers were yet to be provided financial assistance.