Normally, they are disposed of once the criminal case is tried, he said.

According to him these control samples are still useful to compare the effect of the poisonous gas on lives exposed to it 22 years ago. The only thing the institute is doing with them is replacing formaline when it evaporates. “Initially, the Council did carry out a few studies but they stopped midway, and no one knows why,” said Satinath Sarangi, the managing trustee of Sambhavna Trust Clinic.

Dr Satpathy, who was the deputy director of the institute in December 1984, said the foetuses were never examined by the ICMR. Sarangi added that children exposed directly to the gas and those inside the womb when the gas leaked continued to suffer for years but there has not been any serious research on the subject.