The Crop Care Federation of India (CCFI) on Thursday challenged the veracity of a study conducted by a team of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) researchers which claimed to have detected high quantities of over 20 banned pesticides in vegetables produced in the National Capital Region (NCR). The CCFI has issued a notice to JNU Vice Chancellor Sudhir Kumar Sopory and the researchers seeking justification of the findings of the study.
The study, “Health risk assessment of organochlorine pesticide exposure through dietary intake of vegetables grown in the periurban sites of Delhi, India” was conducted at JNU by Professor PS Khillare and a student, Sapna Chourasiya, with assistance from one Darpa Saurav Jyothi. It was published by an international scientific journal, Environmental Science and Pollution Research in November last year.
“It is an extreme case of laboratory fraud. The message conveyed to global community... Is that banned pesticides are still available in India, the Indian farmers are routinely using them, there is lax regulatory control in India over such wrongdoings and, finally, eating Indian vegetables is a health hazard,” S Ganesan, Public and Policy Adviser, CCFI, said in a statement. “We have also written to the VC. There are several discrepancies in the study.”
The Indian Council of Agricultural Research (ICAR) has also written to the university regarding the same, but there has been no response,” he added.
Through the legal notice, the association has sought that the data be provided to it within seven days. CCFI has also sent separate petitions to President Pranab Mukherjee, who is the Visitor of the university, and the HRD Ministry urging them to order a probe into the matter and ensure a check on cases of “scientific misconduct” by researchers at the universities.
Meanwhile, even though Khillare refused to comment on the issue, the JNU Vice Chancellor said they have responded to the legal notice. Sopory said that the varsity does not figure in the picture vis-a-vis the present matter as its faculty was independent to conduct research. “We have responded to the legal notice. There was one paper which was published by our colleague in an international journal. The administration doesn’t interfere with research activities. They are free to publish their work. If there is something which is brought to our notice about plagiarism or any such issue, then we take note of it,” said Sopory.