The ongoing anti-formalin drive in the capital city can be termed 'not enough'. The drive is limited to checking formalin-tainted fish, fruits and vegetables entering the city, but those contaminated with other chemicals remain untraced. This is because the persons behind the drive can check the presence of formalin only.
This drive may create in the minds of the consumers a false belief: they are getting safe foods. In fact, the consumers are not getting safe foods. Almost all the food items in our cities are unsafe, because they contain highly toxic chemicals. Toxic chemicals present in all vegetables, fruits etc are at least twenty times higher than the safety limit.
 The present drive is nothing but a cruel and practical joke of which the hapless people are the target. Had the government been serious about at least containing the menace of slow-poisoning of its people, it would have taken remedial measures long ago. The government's foot-dragging approach towards fighting this grave threat to public health has been glaringly shown in the developments: (a) The Safe Food Law 2013 has not yet been enforced. (b) The highest punishment under this law is maximum five years in jail and Tk 5 lakh in fine. (c) The High Court directive to establish one Safe Food Court in every district has been overlooked (d) Safe Food Rules 2014 is still in a draft form (e) Bangladesh Safe Food Authority is not yet functional (f) Formalin, carbide etc are available in abundance everywhere in the country (g) The Ministry of Agriculture is indifferent to the spraying of fifty thousand tonnes of chemical pesticides costing Tk 50 billion per year; even highly hazardous banned pesticides are also used in large quantities and the pesticides' residue level in agro-products is 20 times higher than the maximum safe-limit (h) No real government initiative to implement Integrated Pest Management (IPM) in agriculture and promote organic cultivation has been seen. (i) The current anti-formalin drive is mostly limited to the capital city, when the whole country is flooded with chemical-tainted foods.
It is a common perception among the people that our food items are poisoned by formalin only. In reality, it is just a fraction of the problem. Pesticides are the main culprit. Annually, 50,000 tonnes of toxic pesticides are being mixed with our air, water and are also being passed to human bodies. In other countries, people are indirectly affected by environmental pollution. In Bangladesh, poisons in very high doses are directly going into the people's bodies.
The public health situation will get worse with every passing day. This will also adversely affect our productivity and gross domestic product (GDP).
A chemical terror has virtually gripped the nation. We are finding it to be highly impossible to get any safe food, at least for our children. 'Poison' in daily foods is presently the number one problem facing the nation. It is required to be addressed with utmost seriousness by the government.
Access to safe food is a human right. We demand our right to be fully at work; give us poison-free safe food. It is high time to start an all-out drive against poison-laced food items.
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The writer is convener, Bish Mukto Bangladesh
Email: bishmukto.bangla@gmail.com
Is the current form of anti-formalin drive enough?
Lt Col Quazi Salimuddin (retd) | Published: June 21, 2014 00:00:00 | Updated: November 30, 2024 06:01:00
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