- Strengths and Concerns
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Can We Devise a Workable Mechanism to Control Contamination of Food -I
Food safety in our country is still not an issue on which elections can be won or lost. One does not find this aspect in the agenda of any political party. As a result , the Govt departments authorised to take action and ensure that necessary guidelines are adhered to have little concern. In this regard Pl refer to the previous article titled ; “Food and Health are the matters of utmost concern that we cannot remain silent about”. https://www.bharatamrising.com/index.php/people-s-participation dated 03 August 21. ..
Thus, In the absence of any meaningful action on ground against contamination of Food products, the citizens are forced to purchase contaminated food items ; vegetables and fruits from the market which are a source of health hazard.
Although, the media reports are not admissible in the courts but at times we need to corroborate the same information with other findings. And when we did that, we noticed that the fears as expressed in media, are not unfounded.
Uncontrolled Use of Pesticides is a Health and Environment Hazard .
This is an acceptable and well known fact that Farmers use chemical fertilizers and pesticides for the protection of their crops and to increase the crop yield, but many of these Pesticides are potentially toxic to humans and can have both acute and chronic health effects, depending on the quantity and ways in which a person is exposed. Some of these pesticides can remain for years in soil and water.
Risk assessment for pesticide residues in food, conducted by the Joint FAO/WHO Meeting on Pesticide Residues (JMPR), has established a safe intake level after assessing the level of risk. However, in our country, there are numerous reports which indicate that the Pesticide residues have been on a much higher side. The report clearly indicates that one of the significant causes of cancer has been Contamination of food product, which happens at various stages starting from the agricultural fields itself. However, in the absence of any concrete or rather any executable model/mechanism the contamination goes on and people continue to face health hazards.
Accumulated pesticide residues in food products have been associated with a broad variety of human health hazards, ranging from short-term effects to long term toxic effects. Food products contaminated with toxic pesticides are associated with severe effects on the human health. More than 95% of sprayed insecticides and herbicides reach a destination other than their target species, including non-target species, air, water and soil.
One can easily estimate the amount of harmful pesticides that must be getting into our stomach/ digestive system annually when we look at the survey report conducted in 2019. It said ;
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