Law to combat formalin menace
THOUGH long overdue, the reported government move to frame a stringent law to control production, import and sale of formalin is welcome. Given the intractability of the issue in terms of the chemical's widespread abuse in different food items, prevailing confusions over the efficacy of formalin detection kits and weaknesses in the present enforcement mechanism, enactment of the envisaged law will necessarily demand special care to make it failsafe.
It is important that the law is able to plug the administrative loopholes through which the dangerous cargo reaches the hands of unscrupulous traders in the food market. As for instance, to control its import, the amendment made to the import-export policy of 2012-15 terms the chemical as formalin, while the same item is being imported under different other chemical names such as para-formaldehyde. The commerce ministry's latest draft law to this effect, Formalin Control Law, 2014, is also not free from this limitation. So, the new law in question should take all these technical lacunae into consideration.
Reports have it that some five thousand tons of this toxic chemical have been imported over the past five months. But the share of its import for industrial purpose is at an insignificant level. Since there is no dependable estimate on the actual demand of this chemical in the country, the whereabouts of this huge quantity of imported formalin will remain a matter of concern.
The government must be able to track down the entire route of formalin's movement from its importing sources to the level of its end users. That will help make the enforcement mechanism to combat formalin menace stronger and effective.
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