PIL against insecticide use to ripen fruits: HC seeks Centre, FSSAI reply

The Delhi High Court on Monday sought response of the Centre and the food safety authority on a public interest litigation seeking directions prohibiting use of insecticide ethephon for artificial ripening of fruits.

A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao issued notice to the Ministry of Agriculture and the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) and sought their stand on the plea which has claimed that the chemical was being used despite it being banned by several states.

According to the petition, ethephon is an insecticide which also contains Calcium Carbide and is hazardous to health.

Though the court observed that the manner in which fruits were being ripened was not correct as even before season mangoes were often available in the market, the bench did not stay the use of the chemical till the next date of hearing on January 24 next year as urged by the petitioner.

The petition by Shivashish Dwivedi has claimed that while only the use of ethylene gas is permitted for ripening fruits, the farmers were allegedly using sachets of ethephon, which is an insecticide.

It has also alleged that the chemical, apart from containing Calcium Carbide, was also mildly explosive and the FSSAI was not taking steps to prevent its use to ripen fruits.

The FSSAI, represented by advocate Mehmood Pracha, said the Agriculture Ministry has a more important role to play as it controls the use of the insecticide.