Melamine alert
A private testing laboratory named Plasma Plus confirming the presence of melamine in a sample of Chinese brand baby milk products available in the market, the government testing institute acronymed BSTI and the Department of Chemistry, Dhaka University, are set to mount a wider surveillance on imported baby food. Although the government has imposed ban on sale of three brands of powder milk for the health hazards they pose, many more milk products are suspect, according to knowledgeable circles.
It is not surprising that a private laboratory has come forward in detecting melamine in a milk formula while the government testing laboratory languished in the periphery. But it is only upon the confirmation of the presence of melamine in the milk by government laboratories, that the Institute of Public Health and Nutrition (IPHN) can take legal action against the importers of hazardous milk. Three Chinese baby milk products had been sold in the markets without having been registered with the IPHN.
The penalties prescribed in the breast milk substitute (market control) regulation, 1984 require to be sterner by way of deterrence against hazardous import. And that's why a new ordinance providing for five-year jail term and a fine of Taka one lakh is being envisaged. The decisions to constitute a task force to go to the bottom of the problem of unchecked imports and strengthen mobile court operations to seize banned powdered milk are welcome; nevertheless, so long as we fail to re-equip and modernise the laboratories of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution (BSTI) to cope with their increased load of work, we shall not be able to stave off hazardous products intruding into our markets.
We cannot allow anybody to play around with baby food. Even though we are informed that no child in the country has been afflicted; yet, given that the milk products have been in use for some time, a scooping investigation is called for, to assess the extent of damage done to our children, and go about redressing it.
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