Unfit to eat

In most cases we are unaware of what we are eating, of the pesticide residue lurking in an apple, the toxins in a glass of milk, the heavy metals in other foods. Experts from the medical field told a recent seminar in London that globally 2.2 million people, including children, died annually due to lack of government policies on food and water safety. Around 700,000 children die each year in South East Asia alone as a consequence of consuming food that had effectively been poisoned by pesticides, heavy metals and other potentially lethal substances. Adulterated milk was identified as one such food. We know the problem exists in our country too. Media reports have detailed the impact of consuming water tainted by fertiliser or pesticide residue, in some cases causing bone abnormalities. The problem however has been insufficiently studied. A 1994 report by the Islamabad-based Sustainable Policy Development Institute noted that pesticide leaching into food and water had highly detrimental health effects. It seems a certainty that the problem will have increased over the two decades since then, as the use of pesticides, fertilisers and other substances grows.
We lack policies to control this problem, we lack awareness of the risks and we lack regulatory mechanisms. All this leads to a situation akin to disaster. We really do not know how many people die each year as a result of consuming unsafe food or water. But it seems likely that the numbers are extremely high. The South Asian director for the WHO told the seminar at London that the body had formulated International Health Regulations-2005, which were aimed at tackling the question of unsafe food and water. Further recommendations had also been put in place by the WHO and the FAO. But these are very poorly followed or not followed at all in most developing countries. The result, according to experts, has been an increase in diseases such as diabetes, organ damage – and in some cases have led to death. We need to take measures to make food safer to eat, and water less poisonous to drink. This is essential to the welfare of people all around the world, including those in our own country. The matter needs to be given far more serious attention than is presently the case.