Abraham Maslow, in the year 1943, proposed a theory on human motivation where he anticipated the idea of a few tiers of needs which humans need to meet in order to live and remain motivated enough to live. The basic tier, as we all know, comprised of the age old physiological needs amongst which food scored second after breathing.
There are many criticisms of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, and the most recent one may be that he forgot to mention safe foods, since poisoned foods never motivated anyone in any way. Food adulteration seems to be a common topic in all family gatherings here in Bangladesh. People today are highly concerned regarding the toxicity of their food, but nevertheless the anxiety limits itself to momentary distress and then life returns back to its own pace.
We are unable to eat anything in this country without being subjugated to the innumerous unethical traders and farmers of the country who sell us off for a minimum amount of profit. Have we ever asked ourselves: “Why the poisoning?” If you ever found yourself wondering all the time what you had done to anger the farmers who seem to be holding a personal vendetta against you and your family, you are not alone. This is happening to everyone, and perhaps even the farmers’ own families as well.
There are many causes behind this, but the most likely may be illiteracy. The majority of farmers applying formalin on their products do not know formalin’s frightening side effects. Then there is of course the issue of maximisation of profits.
Formalin acts as a preservative and helps in the long-term storage of almost anything, including food products. In foreign countries there are large cold storages where farmers can store their fruits and vegetables to keep them from rotting. In our country the large amounts of produce, which are not sold off immediately, rot away to the utmost horror of the poor farmers who invest almost all their earnings into farming and production.
A lack of ethics is the third and the most daunting and possibly the most sinister reason why the illiterate farmers are being utilised as pawns. These are unethical traders who encourage the farmers to use formalin to keep their products fresh, and then sell the chemical to them perfectly knowing its side effects.
In Bangladesh, the current demand for formalin may be 100 tonnes, used in the medical industry, chemical factories, plastic and tannery industry, etc. But around 11,500,000 tonnes of formalin are being imported under various names such as formaldehyde and para-formaldehyde. Where is the rest of the import going? Who are using them and for what purpose?
The request from the people of our nation to the government would be to seek out the culprits and take strict measures against them, strongly highlighting the penalty so that future perpetrators think twice before poisoning anyone else’s food. Alternative and healthy solutions to food preservation must be looked in as well, since the problem needs to be addressed from the root.
As citizens, our responsibility would be to form groups and educate the general public about the alarming circumstance and the ways to fight against it. We can go to our own hometowns and teach local farmers about the scary output of formalin and preservatives. This is an initiative that needs to be performed through the participation of all. We all want safe foods, for it is one of our basic rights.
