Director of the Medical Research Institute Dr. Anil Samaranayake, commenting on the red rains which have been reporting from different parts of the country, said tests carried out on red rain samples by the Cardiff University in England have detected the presence of some living organisms and that they were multiplying.
“MRI tested the red rain samples collected during mid November and found some microorganisms and we sent some samples to England for further investigations. Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe confirmed that these organisms are still living and they are multiplying which is very important in case of further tests. We can look into their DNA and RNA because these organisms can survive in extreme conditions.”
He said in the case of the Kerala red rain, samples were sent to Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe at Cardiff University after three years and found that the organisms were not living.
“In this case we got fresh samples and processed them at MRI and it is very easy to carry out the tests when compared to the Kerala incident.”
The Director said the investigations were continuing.
There has been a huge interest in the country after several incidents of red rain were reported from different parts of the country in the recent past. (Ajith Siriwardana)
Source: Daily Mirror(Sri Lanka)
