The government will set up a new food and drug
administrative agency to check the rampant adulteration of food items
that has exposed people to serious health hazards, announced the health
and food adviser, AMM Shawkat Ali, on Monday.
He told a press
conference at the health ministry that the government would take
measures to stop sales of questionable food items, including baby
formulas, and discourage advertisements that allure children to eat the
food items that are bad for health.
Despite the High Court’s
order and the hue and cry against powder milk contaminated by excessive
percentage of melamine, the banned milk brands are being sold and
displayed openly in the shops, as has been seen in Nakhalpara, Arambagh
and some other areas in the capital.
A rights group has, in the
meantime, filed a contempt of court case against the secretaries to the
home, health and commerce ministries and the inspector-general of
police for not executing the court’s order that banned the sale of
eight brands of milk powder even three days after the order was issued.
‘We
must take a strong position on the food issue as the sale of
contaminated baby formulas is unprecedented and may cripple the future
generations. Steps will be taken so that there is no false publicity
through advertisements in this regard,’ said the adviser.
He was
giving the details of the initiatives and measures that the health
ministry has taken after the discovery of melamine contamination in
powdered milk.
The Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution
has requested the home ministry to take action against traders who are
found to have been selling and displaying banned milk brands, as has
been widely reported in the newspapers.
‘We have already
forwarded to the home secretary today the notifications and warnings
against eight banned milk brands and have sought the help of the police
to stop their sale and display,’ the BSTI’s director-general, Ajmal
Hossain, told New Age. Ten BSTI mobile courts, presided over by
magistrates, that are already engaged in drives against adulterated
food and pirated products in the market, have been asked to also launch
fresh drives against banned milk products, he claimed.
Following
Thursday’s order issued after hearing the public interest litigation by
the Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, the group on Monday filed
another lawsuit with the High Court bench of Justice ABM Khairul Haque
and Justice Mohammad Abdul Hye. The case is likely to be heard today.
Earlier,
the High Court bench of Syed Mahmud Hossain and Justice Quamrul Islam
Siddiqui issued the ban order and asked the four officials, and two
others, to explain in four weeks why their inaction — not stopping the
sale of banned milk powders — would not be declared illegal.
‘The
officials deserve to be accused of contempt of court as they ignored
Thursday’s High Court order that banned the display and sale of eight
imported brands of milk powder that were tested and found to be
melamine-positive,’ said advocate Manzil Murshed on behalf of the
rights group.
Shawkat Ali mentioned that it might take up to two
years to give the final shape to the planned drug and food
administration in the light of America’s Federal Food and Drug
Administration and such agencies in some other countries like
Australia. ‘Since there is no single body to deal with the issues that
arose recently, we have decided to create a new regulatory entity,’ he
said.
As a stopgap measure the government will constitute a
high-level inter-ministry committee, to be backed up by a technical
committee, to deal with the contamination and adulteration of food
items, said the adviser.
The deputy commissioners will lead
district-level committees to monitor the situation and take the
necessary measures, he added. The health ministry is campaigning to
spread the message to parents that there is no alternative to mother’s
milk.
The government has asked the milk producing companies and
their agents to submit, by November 30, the certificates guaranteeing
that their products do not contain industrial chemical melamine, he
said.
When he was asked about the poor enforcement of the High
Court order to stop the sale of the eight condemned brands of milk
powder, the adviser said the government had already started acting in
response to the court’s directive although a certified copy of the
order was yet to reach the authorities concerned.
Referring to
the home secretary’s assurance, he told the reporters that the
government would properly enforce the court order to ensure that no one
could sell the banned brands of powdered milk.
The BSTI has
completed the testing of 40 brands of powdered milk, including the
eight banned brands, samples of which have also been sent abroad for
testing. Reports will be available in the next couple of days, said
officials.
Source: The New Age