the goan I network
PANAJI
Stung by the media reportage and how the whole fish contaminated with the carcinogen formaldehye affair played out on Thursday, the State government huffed and puffed on Friday to clear the air.
But the anxiety and panic among fish-eatng Goan populace showed no signs of ebbing and markets across Goa wore a deserted look.
Health Minister Vishwajit Rane said the Chief Minister was himself monitoring the situation as the issue is of public health and serious.
“We have not told anybody to stop selling fish. We have sought technical details on permissible limit of Formalin and other details,” Rane said, adding that some quantity of the chemical is inherently present in fish.
The Food and Drugs Administration (FDA) issued a fresh statement on Friday in a bid to clarify that there was “no U-turn” in its conduct and the results of the tests it did on Thursday.
The spot analysis on Thursday morning of fish samples picked up by the FDA at the Margao (wholesale) and Panaji markets were positive and fish trade was suspended, the FDA statement claimed adding that results of tests conducted later at their Bambolim laboratory on the same samples showed concentrations of formaldehyde on par with those that naturally occur in fish.
The statement also cited scientific studies and International Fisheries Journals to argue that Formaldehyde naturally occurs in fish and the concentrations vary between 2.38 to 2.95 mg/kg and in shellfish its 0.33 to 16 mg/kg.
“Since the results matched the levels internationally accepted as naturally occurring in fish, the stocks were certified to be safe for consumption,” the FDA said.
The issue meanwhile continued to cause disquiet in many quarters and was the subject of widespread debate on the streets, in homes and elsewhere. Goa’s netizens also took to social media platforms to slam the administration and politicians. Former professor and head of Goa University’s Microbiology Department, Dr Joe D’Souza, meanwhile said that FDA’s findings differed in tests conducted separately could possibly be because of bacteria neutralizing the formalin. It would be erroneous to conclude based on these test results that all is good.
Doctors and food experts were also skeptical and of the strong view that it will take more than just spin doctoring and public relations efforts on the part of the government to put the issue at rest.
“Formaldehyde is a ‘Class I’ carcinogen. The FDA must conduct a broader and more elaborate exercise to unearth the truth of the affair,” said Dr Shekhar Salkar.
Salkar, a prominent oncologist said, exact levels of the chemical found in the samples tested and what are the permissible levels must be clearly revealed.
Dr Salkar however insisted it was too early to comment on how much this whole formalin-in-fish episode can be a factor in future cancer occurrence scenario of Goa.
“It is a matter of further studies and research,” he added.
Dr Oscar Rebello, another prominent doctor was more direct in his reaction to Thursday’s l’affaire ‘fish and formalin’. “The only authority who should be given absolute powers to detect and prosecute rogue traders must be the FDA and only the FDA,” Dr Oscar wrote in an article he posted on a blog.
“Ministers, bureaucrats and indeed fish traders must not interfere with due process of science. The FDA must stand up and be counted,” Dr Oscar who is known to be outspoken on myriad issues affecting Goa, including its politics, wrote further in the article.
His article offere the tip, which was also circulating widely in Goa-centric online groups and networks, that formalin can be simply washed off foods and fish, with a solution of water and vinegar.
