Pesticide makers' body questions State govt finding

Chennai: A body of pesticide manufacturers today termed as "unfounded allegation" the Kerala government's finding of high pesticide residues in vegetables received from Tamil Nadu.

"The scientific data collected from Kerala government itself does not support their allegations. So our appeal (to them) is not to make any unfounded allegations against any Indian/Tamil Nadu farmer," Crop Care Federation of India, Advisor (Public and Policy Affairs), S Ganesan told reporters here.

The Kerala government had recently said that it found vegetables from Tamil Nadu and elsewhere to have pesticide residues three to five times more than the permissible limit.

Taking a serious view of the pesticide residue in vegetables, Chief Minister Oommen Chandy had recently written to his counterparts in Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh to look into the issue.

Ganesan said the Federation had sent a legal notice to Vice-Chancellor of Kerala Agricultural University for his reported remarks that Tamil Nadu farmers were not concerned about the health of Malayalees.

He said the Federation had also written to the Tamil Nadu Food Safety department over the issue.