Safe food and water are needed for a healthy life
Food and water are essential for human life. Just as not all water is drinkable, not all foods are good for health. In a word, only pure water is drinkable. Likewise not all foods are safe for health. Only healthy, safe food can save lives and keep them disease free. Yet we have to take food to survive. But it must be nutritious, balanced, free from adulteration and safe. This type of food and water helps to keep a person healthy. However, if the daily food is poisonous, the water is contaminated and unfit for drinking, then we have to face threats in our lives at every moment.
Rice is the main food of Bengalis. It is true that we are now self-sufficient in all kinds of food including rice. But it is questionable how safe, quality and healthy that food is for our lives. What we eat every day is completely unhealthy and unsafe. Again, it cannot be said that all food and water are healthy and safe. However, most of the food and water are adulterated, of low quality. On 13 October 2017, the World Bank published a report entitled "Analysis of Water Supply, Sanitation, Health and Poverty in Bangladesh". According to the report, 41 percent of the drinking water supplied in the country is carrying diarrhea germs. Eighty percent of the water supplied through the pipeline contains harmful germs. E-coli, a harmful bacterium, is present in 80 percent of tap water supplied to pipelines in urban areas. The report fears that "water pollution and low quality" could hamper many gains. So it is also contaminating food prepared using contaminated and unsanitary water. And that contaminated food we are taking every day.
Instead of adulterated, unsafe food and water, the government is continuing its various activities to ensure clean water, healthy adulterated and safe food. In particular, the Food Safety Authority, the mobile court of the RAB, and the mobile court of the district administration have continued their regular patrols, but these activities are inadequate. These activities should be extended not only to the capital, but also to the divisional level, districts and even upazilas, and regular monitoring is essential. At the same time, it is necessary to invent technologies and methods to keep soil, water and crops free from toxins and its proper application.
Rice production has increased in food self-sufficient Bangladesh. It has been possible to invent new rice. We are endangering public health by producing more crops. Research by the National Food Safety Laboratory has found the presence of chromium, cadmium, lead and arsenic in agricultural products.
According to public health experts, if chromium, cadmium, lead and arsenic enter the human body, it cannot be excreted. All of them damage the kidneys, liver and brain in the long run. In addition, these chemicals are a major source of various chronic diseases, including cancer. These slowly push people towards death.
According to European Commission policy, the maximum tolerable level of chromium for the human body is 1 ppm. A study by the National Food Safety Laboratory found chromium in rice up to 3.414 ppm. Although the tolerable level of cadmium is 0.1 ppm, the study found up to 3.2395 ppm. Although the tolerable level of lead was 0.2 ppm, it was found to be up to 1.6 ppm.
Experts say the main causes of cadmium in rice are the application of low quality TSP fertilizers to the land and untreated waste from the garment industry, pharmaceutical factories, textiles and tanneries. According to them, in addition to environmental pollution, the consequences of indiscriminate use of pesticides are being felt by almost everyone. In this case, children are at serious risk. Crops, fish, water and land produced at the same time are becoming severely toxic as a result of application of toxic pesticides without proper standards and non-compliance with application rules. As a result, this toxic material is easily entering the human body.
Crops and fish are entering heavy metals mainly from soil and water. Soil and water are exposed to chemical contamination in such a way that it enters the human body through the food cycle and endangers human life. People are being affected by various complex diseases.
If the food we have to eat to survive is the cause of the disease, then there is no guarantee of a healthy life. So we have to take all the measures to detoxify our food now. Use of toxic pesticides and fertilizers should be stopped. Discipline must also be brought in factory waste management. There is no substitute for drastic measures to ensure detoxification. It is necessary for the administration, producers, sellers and stockists to be severely punished for stopping the production, marketing and sale of adulterated, unsafe food. At the same time, those who pollute water, sell contaminated water, store it and produce it should be punished. Otherwise, by eating adulterated, unsafe food and drinking contaminated water, there is a risk of contracting various deadly diseases. Which doctors and health experts have been saying at different times.
The government has taken a very strict stand against food adulteration. Bangladesh Safe Food Authority, RAB, BSTI, City Corporation are running separate mobile courts. .Besides, marketing and sale of adulterated, counterfeit and expired drugs are being carried out on a regular basis and various organizations are being jailed. The benefits are also coming. However, these officers need to be year-round and spread across the country. Only then is it possible to ensure safe food and water for the people. If these are ensured, the health of the people will be ensured and the common man will be saved from huge medical expenses