A PIL has been filed in Delhi High Court for banning of 66 pesticides used in India. It claimed that these are banned in many other counties. The PIL pleases a ban on the registration and sale of these 66 chemicals as they can be hazardous to human, plants and animals. The list of thes pesticides includes aluminium phosphide, carbosulfan, dazomet, zinc phosphide, captan, carbofuran and many others.

The petition came under the bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice Anu Malhotra who have accepted to hear it on August 28.

The petitioner is a law graduate and he has alleged that the expert panel determined to examine the use of such pesticides was dominated and influenced by the pesticide manufactures lobby. He also claims to be a part of an organization, willing to fight against such hazardous chemicals, believes in a new expert committee comprising of people independent of pesticide industry.

“The private pesticide manufacturers became part and parcel of the expert committee and played a role much larger than an invitee.The minutes show that the expert committee relied almost exclusively on the data generated by the very same industry that it was seeking to regulate,” the petition by K V Biju said.

He also claimed that these chemicals are banned in various European countries as these chemicals are threat to the environment and the life in it. But “India is becoming a safe haven and dumping ground for such hazardous chemicals”.

Apart from the 66 pesticides, containing DDT, the petition also has a list of pesticides banned in various countries but are still used in India.