There is something fishy in Food and Drugs Administration’s fish tests. In an appalling and unbelievable U-turn, the FDA spot test which was ‘red’ positive for the presence of formalin (formaldehyde ) in the morning, suddenly turned negative by dusk. The negative result though, has only sent alarm bells ringing louder. How on earth could a spot test which showed the presence of a harmful and banned chemical get a clean chit in a detailed quantitative test done a few hours later? And how could FDA conclude after the second test that the presence of the chemical was within permissible limits when formalin presence itself is banned?
There’s nothing wrong with the first FDA test, but something drastically changed between the first spot test and the second. Events began to unfold soon after ministers took to tweeting calling for calm.
The fish lobby is no small fry with its tentacles spread across all political levels, even between multiple states. Here is a business whose daily turnover runs into crores of rupees. No business lobby will watch helplessly their money being flushed down the drains.
Incidentally, on a day when the Goa government gave the fish from other states a clean chit, the Assam government has banned import of fish for a period of 10 days after formalin content was found in imported fish.
But this horror story is not just restricted to fish. Goa has been importing an assortment of fruits and vegetables from several states, besides foreign countries like China and US. Vegetables and fruits are known to be injected with pesticides and growth hormones to boost production. There is oxytocin, a highly hazardous hormone which is commonly used on animals, which is used to increase the size of vegetables. There are silicone sprays being used to slow down the ripening process of vegetables and industrial green die (used in textiles) used to give a vibrant fresh green appearance. We still get hormone treated Chinese apples and wax-coated Washington apples. Truckloads of fruits and vegetables are sold in the markets without any FDA checks, exposing the consumer to all sorts of health risks.
CM Manohar Parrikar may have taken hygiene and health seriously by cracking down on open eateries outside GMC. But here is a bigger evil which directly threatens the health of lakhs of Goans and which has been completely ignored. Fish is one issue which has Goemkarponn written all over it. The FDA needs to tightly scan each and every vehicle which transports consumables and perishable food products into Goa. Periodic checks have been an eye-wash.
Our ministers need not lecture us about how the government is trying to ward off a panic situation. It only exposes the compromises our political class has made over the health concerns of the people and brings into sharp focus their fishy connections. It’s high time government takes the health and lives of its people very seriously. At least let Goans have their xit, koddi and fish in peace.
