New Delhi, Dec 16 (IANS): The government has not banned the sale, distribution and use of glyphosate or any other pesticide that contains glyphosate, the Parliament was informed on Friday.

Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Minister Narendra Singh Tomar told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply that the Registration Committee constituted under section (5) of the Insecticides Act, 1968 while registering the pesticides for use in the country evaluates their safety and efficacy based on the field trials conducted at state agriculture universities/ICAR institutes and lab studies conducted at NABL /ISO:17025/ and GLP accredited laboratories.

Based on the studies, the Registration Committee approves the details of doses, crops, precautionary measures, antidotes etc on label and leaflets. The registered pesticides, if used as per label and leaflets, do not pose any harm to human beings, animals, living organisms other than pests, he said.

The Registration Committee is empowered to register pesticides for use in the country and takes references from various international documents including International Code of Conduct on Pesticides Management, Tomar added.