Stop excessive use of steroids to fatten cattle
The High Court yesterday directed the government to form a seven-member expert committee in eight weeks in order to stop excessive use of steroids for making sacrificial animals fatty.
The panel, within eight weeks of its formation, will have to submit its recommendations to the court to stop the practice.
HC bench of Justice Sheikh Hassan Arif and Justice Mohammad Ullah came up with the order after Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, a rights organisation, filed a petition recently seeking HC directive on the matter.
The court yesterday asked the secretaries of home, commerce, health and food ministries to include a health expert, doctor, nutritionist and veterinarian, among others, in the committee.
The HC also sought explanation as to why the government's inaction to stop the use of harmful chemicals to flatten up animals would not be declared illegal.
Secretaries to the ministries of home, commerce, food, health, and livestock and fisheries, director generals of Rab, livestock service and health services, and the DMP commissioner were asked to respond to the rule within six weeks. The government had already deployed medical teams at the cattle markets to examine the presence of steroids in the bodies of cattle, buffalos and goats, Manzill Murshid, petitioner's counsel, told The Daily Star yesterday.
Deputy attorney general Amit Talukder represented the sate during the hearing.
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