Centre informed the Supreme Court on Monday that usage of disinfectant tunnels is not recommended and is harmful & that appropriate directions & Circular stipulating the desistance from their usage to all concerned will be issued.
A bench comprising of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R. Subhash Reddy & MR Shah asked the Solicitor General Tushar Mehta that why the ban was not already enforced if their usage was harmful. The bench allowed SG to do so and listed the case for further consideration after two weeks.
The court was hearing a PIL seeking complete ban on sanitization tunnels being used across the country to disinfect entrants of a public place/ premises. Earlier on August 10, the top court had issued notice to Union of India on the petition filed and argued by Gursimran Singh Narula, a final year law student.
The court claimed that the so called disinfectant tunnels are not only “ineffective” in preventing spread of the virus but also have dangerous after effects to human life as they expose human beings to ultra violet rays, and the same amounts to “non-consensual medical experimentation”.
It has been established by WHO and other health experts across the world that the unchecked and mis-informed usage of such disinfection tunnels can have serious physical and psychological consequences on human beings.
The advisory stated spraying on individuals or groups is NOT recommended under any circumstances and it can lead to irritation of eyes, skin and potentially gastrointestinal and psychological problems. It further added that such measures may in fact lead to false sense of disinfection & safety and actually hamper public observance to hand washing and social distancing measures.
It was also contended that spraying of disinfectants on human beings has no adverse health impact and led to violation of right to healthy life under Article 21 of the Constitution. Said so, he has sought forthwith ban on the usage, installation, production, advertisement of disinfection tunnels involving spraying or fumigation of chemical disinfectants for the purposes disinfecting human beings.
