Nearly a dozen different chemicals needed to produce formalin have been imported by traders for many years amid lax monitoring and due to the lack of awareness on the part of the authorities concerned. These chemicals are later processed into formalin, which is used to adulterate food items, fish and vegetables.
Traders brought in these chemicals to avoid the restrictions to formalin import which are currently in place.
Surprisingly, these generic chemicals were never included in any of the related laws since the policymakers had been in the dark about the methods of producing formalin.
The traders therefore got the scope to import huge amounts of generic formalin without any obstruction and the consumers have thus been exposed to serious health hazards.
The 11 identified generics are formaldehyde, formaldehyde solution, methanal solution, methyl aldehyde, methyl aldehyde solution, paraformaldehyde, paraformaldehyde solution, paraform, formagene, formol and morbicid acid.
Around 17,000 tonnes of formalin variants and 11.19 tonnes of formalin were imported through Chittagong port between January last year and June this year, said a high official at the Chittagong Customs House.
Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed told parliament earlier that 55 tonnes of formalin had been imported in 2013-14 while 1,073 tonnes had been imported over the past four years.
While enacting the Safe Food Act, 2013 the government did not name any of these generics which might cause health hazards for the citizens, said Commerce Ministry officials.
Under the Act, only formaldehyde was mentioned as a possible variant of formalin. But the 11 generics were not named in the import policy.
Officials said the misuse of formalin could have easily been prevented had the government taken up strict actions against the import of these items. As the government did not impose any restrictions, the customs authorities did not stop the consignments of these 11 chemicals.
The government has finally started a recent initiative to control the import of these generics. The names of these 11 chemicals have been included in the import policy for 2012-15 through a gazette.
“Imports of these 11 new items have been restricted as we have found that these chemicals can be used to produce formalin,” Senior Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamun told the Dhaka Tribune.
The move came after recommendations were put forward by the chemistry teachers of Dhaka University.
From now on, the traders will have to follow certain conditions to import these 11 types of formalin generics, states the statutory regulatory order issued by the Commerce Ministry on August 13.
The importers have been asked to maintain four conditions: they will have to take permission from the Commerce Ministry, and to apply for the approval, the importers will have to submit recommendations from the ministry concerned.
The two other conditions are: registering the sale of formalin; and showing the registers to the officials of the Commerce Ministry or authorities designated by the government to examine the registers from time to time.
“Till date, there was no strict law on the import of these 11 items since we were not aware that these could be used to produce formalin,” the senior secretary said.
Within the next two or three months, the government will enact the Formalin Control Act 2014, where these chemicals will be named to strictly monitor their imports, he added.
In June, the cabinet approved the draft Act keeping a provision of maximum life-term imprisonment and a fine of Tk20 lakh for unauthorised production, import, transport, stocking, sale and use of formalin. The Dhaka Metropolitan Police launched a drastic anti-formalin drive in the capital in June, armed with Formaldehyde Meter Z-300, and seized and destroyed a large amount of contaminated fruits after assessment.
This was the first time the police were engaged in such a drive to combat misuse of formalin in fruits.
The fruit traders also enforced a strike against the drive since people panicked and the sale of fruits dropped remarkably, compelling the traders to use “formalin-free fruits” signboards to attract the consumers.
Later, in July, after a petition was filed by fruit traders, the High Court questioned the efficiency of the formalin detection meter and asked the government to check the machinery.
Prof ABM Faroque of the pharmaceuticals technology department at DU told the Dhaka Tribune that the government should have included these names in the Safe Food Act much earlier.
“Private importers have been importing these 11 items for a long time due to lax monitoring of the authorities concerned. We have put restrictions on these items since these are familiar in Bangladesh, but the rest of the chemicals should also be included in the list,” he said adding that he had a list of another 12 such chemicals that are used to produce formalin.
Expressing doubts over the implementation of the Formalin Control Act, he said: “There should be exemplary punishment for the businesses who import these chemicals to adulterate foods. The government should take the matter seriously.”