Bt cotton off the shelf,sans toxicity tests

While the state government is dealing with the accusation of not testing Bt cotton even though 12.5 lakh packets of seeds have already been sold off,a Nagpur laboratory has refused to conduct tests for any state.

While the state government is dealing with the accusation of not testing Bt cotton even though 12.5 lakh packets of seeds have already been sold off,a Nagpur laboratory has refused to conduct tests for any state.

A few samples were sent to Nagpur,which have been sent back by the laboratory authorities saying the states should have their own measures to do such analysis. Of the 24 lakh packets made ready by the Agriculture department,nearly 12.5 lakh have already been sold.

At present,the Agriculture department is only conducting sample tests to identify whether the seeds are Bt or not from the PAU and Gurdaspur laboratories. The toxicity of the seed and few more analysis which are a must to keep a check on the quality of the seeds are nowhere available. The state,hence,will be missing these tests for this season.

We have received Rs 36 lakh to set up a lab where all tests will be done. It will be set up in Faridkot. From the coming season we will not face such problems, Dr B S Sidhu,Director of Agriculture department,said.

According to sources,Rs 6 crore has been spent on seed tests and analysis facility in Faridkot,but it is still not operational.

So far we have taken 96 samples at random from Abohar,Fazilka,Bathinda and other areas and all have cleared the germination and Bt tests, said Dr Sidhu.

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