‘No banned pesticides in veggies sold in Capital’

Most of your daily veggies are safe and the pesticide level in them is within permissible limits. Also no banned pesticides were found in vegetables.

Most of your daily veggies are safe and the pesticide level in them is within permissible limits. Also no banned pesticides were found in vegetables.

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This is the conclusion of a report submitted in Delhi High Court by a court-appointed committee headed by Additional Solicitor General AS Chandhiok.

The report was prepared after collecting samples from various markets across Delhi in April and May and testing them in government laboratories.

On March 9, a bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had ordered the survey following a report by Consumer Voice, an NGO, saying that the amount of pesticides in fruits and vegetables in India, especially those sold in Delhi markets, was as much as 750 times the European standards.

Lawyer Meera Bhatia, a member of the committee, said they had visited markets in Kola, Mayur Vihar, Sarojini Nagar, INA, Defence Colony and Vasant Vihar and Lodhi Estate.

Meanwhile, Consumer Voice trashed the report, saying the panel inspected only six vegetables, while their report was based on samples of 35 different vegetables. They also questioned government labs’ credibility.

The NGO claimed that of five internationally banned pesticides, four were found to be common in vegetables sold here. They included chlordane, a central nervous system toxin; endrin, which causes headache nausea and dizziness; and heptachor that can damage the liver and decrease fertility.