Court stops release of fertiliser

30 Jan 2012 - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The Colombo Commercial High Court today ordered the Director General of Customs and the Registrar of Pesticides to stop the release of fertiliser allegedly contaminated by arsenic and mercury until further notice.

The order was made on Customs Director General Sudharma Karunaratna and Pesticides Registrar Neville Gunawardena after considering the submissions made by Counsel Ravindranath Dabare.

The petitioner – Centre for Environmental Justice – said Ms. Karunaratne had retained in her custody several containers of the allegedly contaminated fertiliser which were hazardous to the environment and to humans.

The petitioner said Mr. Gunawardena had directed that the fertiliser be released to the market.

The petitioner asked that laboratory tests be carried out by the National Toxicology and Toxinology Centre and said the health services director had sent samples to the Department of Forensic Medicine and to the Colombo JMO Ananda Samarasekera for examination and it was confirmed that the fertiliser was contaminated with arsenic and mercury.

The petitioner said the customs had taken steps to release the fertiliser to the importers after levying a fine. (T. Farook Thajudeen)

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Court stops release of fertiliser

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