The high level of toxic elements like cadmium, arsenic, mercury and lead in foods available at the capital’s top kitchen markets is the result of severe pollution of soil and water, experts say.
Heavy metallic elements enter the food chain mainly through industrial effluents, phosphatic fertilisers (especially cadmium) and the burning of fossil fuels (especially lead), says a study titled “Consumption of unsafe foods: Heavy metal, mineral and trace element contamination,” conducted by the Bangladesh Agricultural University.
The research team examined samples of cereals, fish, meat, vegetables and spices from kitchen markets in Gulshan, Karwan Bazar and Hazaribagh, and detected at least one or more heavy metals – cadmium, arsenic, lead, mercury, antimony, nickel, aluminium and lithium – in five out of 16 food groups.
Pollutants from industrial sources put public health and ecology at risk when the toxic elements are discharged into nature. They also affect agriculture resulting in the contamination of food items.
Prof Rafiqul Islam, who led the study conducted in late 2012 and presented the report recently, said the extent of contamination differs according to the variation of sources of pollution and the origin of the food products.
He says that the presence of arsenic in rice varieties is seen due to soil conditions and concentration of arsenic in irrigation water.
Bangladesh’s economy has been rising for the last two decades – thanks to rapid industrial development. But businessmen do not pay any heed to the need to manage industrial effluents in an environment-friendly and sustainable manner.
For instance, dyeing factories have been set up in many corners of the country though they usually discharge massive amounts of liquid waste into nearby canals and rivers without treating them, thus contaminating the water and the soil.
The dyeing industry is considered a major backward linkage industry for the country’s Ready Made Garments sector.
When contacted, Department of Environment Director General Roisul Islam Mondol gave a helpless gesture.
He observed that industrialists never consider the condition of the ecology and environment but narrowly concentrate on profits.
As an example, despite having all kinds of facilities, tanneries are yet to relocate from Hazaribagh to the newly-constructed leather park near Savar, Roisul said.
The study suggests that the authorities should develop rice varieties that accumulate less arsenic and cadmium to minimise the transfer from irrigation water to the grains and from grains to the body. Moreover, the government should ensure that the rice is cultivated with arsenic-free water.
Any amount of any type of heavy metal is intolerable for human consumption. Livers and kidneys are the primary victims. “But in the long run, heavy metals damage other organs too,” Prof Khaleda Islam of the Institute of Nutrition and Food Science said.
Arsenic is the most dangerous element because it may cause cancer in the long-run, she said adding that the government should take proper initiatives to check the situation.
Lead, a metallic element and a non-biodegradable substance, is extremely hard to clean up once the environment is contaminated, while mercury, another metallic element, is a poison.
“The study findings hint that traders are not able to deliver safe food to the market … most likely due to the difficulty of recognising and determining which foods are safe for human consumption,” Prof Rafiqul said.