The Supreme Court (SC) yesterday directed the health ministry to send samples of all brands of powdered milk available in domestic markets to any European country through World Health Organisation (WHO) for laboratory test and submit the reports to the High Court (HC) by December 31.
The five-member full bench of the Appellate Division headed by Chief Justice MM Ruhul Amin also extended until January 3, 2009, the HC order lifting the ban on sale and display of the five popular brands — Dano, Red Cow, Diploma, Nido and Anlene — among the eight brands.
The apex court passed the order disposing of the petitions filed on November 16 on behalf of Red Cow and Nido seeking a stay on the HC order.
The original writ petitioners’ counsel advocate Manzill Murshid yesterday told The Daily Star that the Appellate Division upheld the HC order with a modification regarding the lab test reports on melamine-mixed powdered milk.
During the hearing of the petitions, counsels for Red Cow and Nido told the court that since the government had not accepted the lab test reports done by the DU, it would not be logical to send there the samples of the powdered milk again.
They said it would be better to send the samples of the powdered milk to the WHO for test reports.
Murshid opposed the petitions saying the HC order should not be stayed until the lab test reports on the powdered milk are submitted to the court.
On November 10, following a supplementary petition filed by Murshid, the HC directed the ministry to send again the samples of the already tested eight brands of powdered milk to three laboratories at the chemistry department of Dhaka University (DU), Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission (BAEC), and Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) that had earlier tested those for melamine contamination, and to submit the new results to the court within 21 days.
The HC ordered the government to publish in newspapers the results of all the tests done so far to let people know about it.
It, however, lifted for 21 days the ban imposed earlier by itself on sale and display of the five popular brands but kept the ban on three Chinese brands Yashili 1, Yashili 2, and Sweet Baby 2.
The HC the same day directed the government to test all brands of powdered milk available in the market in three designated laboratories by collecting samples of those, and submit the test reports to the court ‘as soon as possible’.
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