Who is responsible for health of present and future generation?

The Daily Sun

Opinion Page 

Published:11 February, 2018

Food is essential for every living being on earth. But food adulteration has become so rampant in Bangladesh that we always feel scared while eating anything. Contamination and adulteration of food products has become a major threat for public health in Bangladesh. Dangers lurk in every food item. It is very difficult to find a sector of food industry which is free from adulteration. From vegetables, fish, milk, fruit, sweetmeats, ice cream, to spices, nothing is safe. Almost every day different TV channels and news papers are reporting on new methods of adulterating new types of foods. Carbide, formalin, textile colours, artificial sweeteners, DDT, urea etc are used widely for this purpose. Contamination of foods with toxic chemicals poses a serious threat to public health, especially in a country like Bangladesh where level of awareness is very low due to poor health literacy. In the long run, these chemicals in food adversely affect vital organs such as the liver and kidney, resulting in organ failure and/or cancer and thus, untimely loss of life. Ironically, people from all walks of life are aware of the hazards of taking foods adulterated with toxic chemicals, but this knowledge is not translated into practice. In a recent study, it has been found that though people are aware about the health hazards, they are nevertheless buying and consuming these adulterated foods. Several explanations are made for this paradox; absence or unavailability of non-adulterated food, failure of the regulatory agency to test and screen out adulterated food, adulterated foods are attractive in appearance and costs less, cultural factors and food habits etc. According to estimates of WHO (World Health Organisation), food borne and waterborne diarrhoeal diseases kill approximately 2.2 million people worldwide annually. A majority of them, approximately 1.9 million of them are children. But due to the lax monitoring system in Bangladesh, a reliable assessment of public health impact due to food contamination is unavailable. ICDDR,B, an international health research organisation in Dhaka, has some data available, which show that about 501 patients visit hospitals per day for treatment of diarrhoea that were attributed to food and waterborne causes. A common scenario regarding food contamination reveals nonconformity with sanitary practices in food handling among both producers and retailers, particularly street food vendors. Meanwhile, the environmental group Paribesh Bachao Andolan (PABA) disclosed horrific findings on the use of formalin, after collecting 263 samples of fruit and traditional iftar items from different parts in Dhaka. The group found 100 % of vermicelli and citrus fruit, 95% of grapes, 91% of bananas and 90% of noodles were contaminated with formalin and other harmful chemical preservatives, as well as 82% of mangoes, 77% of dates, 75% of tomatoes, 60% of eggplant, 59% of apples and 20% of cucumbers. According to the Ministry of Law there are 15 safe food delivery laws and regulations to contain adulteration of food in Bangladesh such as: Penal Code, 1860, Control of Essential Commodities Act, 1956, Food (Special Courts) Act, 1956, Pure Food Ordinance, 1959, Cantonments Pure Food Act, 1966, Pesticide Ordinance, 1971, Special Powers Act, 1974, Fish and Fish Products (Inspection and Control), Ordinance, 1983, The Breast-Milk Substitutes (Regulation of Marketing) Ordinance, 1984, Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution Ordinance 1985, Iodine Deficiency Disorders Prevention Act 1989, Vokta Odhikar Songrokkhon Ain, 2009 [Consumers Rights Protection Act 2009], Sthanio Sarkar (City Corporation) Ain, 2009 [Local Government (City Corporation) Act 2009], Sthanio Sarkar (Paurashava) Ain, 2009 [Local Government (Paurashava) Act, 2009] Mobile Court Ain, 2009 [Mobile Court Act, 2009]. Use of such a large number of laws for a single purpose like food safety is quite unusual and unprecedented in the world. When it comes to challenges faced by the authority for ensuring food safety, S M Amirul Islam, Director, BFSA said: “Our large population and diversified food habits pose a challenge for us as we are short-handed. We have about 2.5 million food business operators but not enough officers to conduct drives diligently in all the places. There are 20 departments under 12 ministries that are involved in food safety management and we are trying to synchronise their activities and support them in areas where they are lacking; we also help them identify the gaps in existing systems and work out a solution. We need more labs for testing food items for contamination, we are lacking in that department. We have no reference lab. People have a wrong perception and in many cases, they are being misled about food safety in this country. Unhygienic food habits and conditions in our supply chain are also a concern for us. We are hopeful that we will be able to build a synchronised management system with all the stakeholders in the near future to effectively assess and ensure food safety in Bangladesh.” Commitment from the political establishment is needed for a sustained campaign against the perpetrators of this heinous crime and to establish our fundamental right to have safe and nutritious food! To achieve this, relentless enforcement of existing laws with the execution of highest penalty possible, awareness-building campaign among consumers, promotion of ethical practices among the business community with active involvement of the business leaders, and capacity development of public health labs to test food items for adulteration on the spot are needed. The consumer rights groups should be more vocal and play active role in developing a mass campaign in the country. All citizens need to continue their activism so that the government becomes really sincere in saving the future of this nation. Otherwise, we’ll have a very sick nation.   

Tarequl Islam Munna: Journalist, Columnist and Conservator, wildlife and environment. E-mail: munna_tareq@yahoo.com