When the anxious mother’s call fades out
“Milk is the main source of nutrition for my children,” the anxious mother said. “There is not much nutritious food available. How could I give my children the milk knowing it is contaminated?”
I had no words for this young woman in her 30s who was raising two children. She thought I might have some suggestions about this, as I was a journalist. However, I was as clueless as anyone else.
This was in February, after a government study found harmful chemicals in cow’s milk. There was an alarming level of toxic substances, pesticides and antibiotics in almost all the samples collected by the National Food Safety Laboratory (NFSL). The study, funded by the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), found lead, chromium along with antibiotics, including tetracycline, enrofloxacin, ciprocin and aflatoxin. Reports in media were replete with expert commentaries on how these toxic materials were destroying our immune mechanism leading to cancer.
Also, veterinary specialists told the media that chemicals were entering the body of cattle through fodder or fattening steroids.
These reports along with the alarming commentaries soon made way for new disasters. The pleas of the anxious mother faded from my mind too.
But the issue resurfaced as a High Court bench on 21 May reproached the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) for questioning the NFSL study. The court also asked the national standards regulatory authority as to why, rather than questioning, they did not conduct the tests on their own.
The BSTI lawyer argued that the samples were taken from Dhaka, Narayanganj and Savar, but most of the milk was provided from Pabna, Sirajganj, Jashore. The NFSL said it was not the only organisation that tested for harmful elements, but iccddr,b and Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research or BCSIR were responsible too.
This sounds odd when a state run institution says the milk produced in the sampling did not come from the three districts milk was produced most from. What is the fate of the people drinking the milk of the districts named by the NFSL?
Also, amidst the arguments, counter-arguments, reports and probe committees, who is to save the people, especially the children? This was not the first time alarming reports appeared regarding milk. Earlier in May 2018, iccddr,b scientists found more than 75 per cent of all pasteurised milk available in the local market was unsafe for direct consumption. The condition of water, which is essential for human and cattle, was also alarming. In October 2018, a World Bank report said 41 per cent of water sources in Bangladesh were contaminated with E. coli bacteria. Presence of this faecal bacteria indicated the water was contaminated with pathogens causing disease.
There has been punishment too over adulteration and similar crimes in the country. According to the media, over the past one year, more than 1,400 mobile courts have imposed fines over 12.50 million taka in total and punished over 2,300 persons for adulterated food. Bangladesh has the highest number of food safety laws in the world but none are properly implemented, Dhaka Tribune quoted a horticulturist at Bangladesh Agriculture University saying.
This means the solution does not lie in laws and haphazard punishments. Recognising the issue of health as an emergency and tracing the origins is essential. As the profit mongering culture is rooting deeply day by day, preferring life over money and awareness to save the environment are important. But first of all it is imperative to have the backbone to implement all this, braving all odds.
As the call of the anxious mother’ fades, it is time for the alarms to ring out loud.
*Nusrat Nowrin is a journalist at Prothom Alo. She can be reached at [email protected]
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