‘Government to decide on fish ban in two days’
Sheezan Nezami | TNN | Updated: Jan 10, 2019, 07:51 IST
Representative imagePATNA: A day after laboratory tests in Kolkata confirmed very high level of formalin in fish samples, health department principal secretary Sanjay Kumar said the final call on ban would be taken in a couple of days.
“It is really a serious issue and the department will take some serious decision,” said Kumar. State health minister Mangal Pandey could not be contacted as he was out of station.
On Tuesday, Kumar said the tests confirmed high level of formalin in seven out of ten fish samples sent to Kolkata lab. The samples were collected from the wholesale fish market in Patna. Alarmingly, all the ten samples had high level of heavy metals like lead and cadmium, which adversely impact human health.
Formalin is a carcinogenic chemical and its use in food product is very dangerous. The same chemical is applied on a dead body to preserve it for longer duration.
State animal and fisheries resources department had earlier written to the health department to take necessary action to prevent formalin-laced fish from entering the state market. They had conducted a test on 85 samples in Patna and Kolkata labs. After finding high level of formalin in 25 samples, animal and fisheries resources minister Pashupati Kumar Paras had asked the health department to ban the fish being procured from coastal region, especially from Andhra Pradesh.
On Wednesday, Paras said the decision on banning fish from outside will be taken by health department as it was not under his jurisdiction.
Former head of paediatrics department at Patna Medical College and Hospital, Dr Nigam Prakash Narayan, advised the parents not to feed preserved fish to their kids. “Be it children or elderly people, formalin severely impact human health,” he said.
He said formalin has both short and long-term effects on health. “This is a cancer-causing agent and leads to nausea, loss of appetite, skin irritation, respiratory problem, cough and breathlessness,” he said. However, he said, there was no harm in eating fresh local fish.
“It is really a serious issue and the department will take some serious decision,” said Kumar. State health minister Mangal Pandey could not be contacted as he was out of station.
On Tuesday, Kumar said the tests confirmed high level of formalin in seven out of ten fish samples sent to Kolkata lab. The samples were collected from the wholesale fish market in Patna. Alarmingly, all the ten samples had high level of heavy metals like lead and cadmium, which adversely impact human health.
Formalin is a carcinogenic chemical and its use in food product is very dangerous. The same chemical is applied on a dead body to preserve it for longer duration.
State animal and fisheries resources department had earlier written to the health department to take necessary action to prevent formalin-laced fish from entering the state market. They had conducted a test on 85 samples in Patna and Kolkata labs. After finding high level of formalin in 25 samples, animal and fisheries resources minister Pashupati Kumar Paras had asked the health department to ban the fish being procured from coastal region, especially from Andhra Pradesh.
On Wednesday, Paras said the decision on banning fish from outside will be taken by health department as it was not under his jurisdiction.
Former head of paediatrics department at Patna Medical College and Hospital, Dr Nigam Prakash Narayan, advised the parents not to feed preserved fish to their kids. “Be it children or elderly people, formalin severely impact human health,” he said.
He said formalin has both short and long-term effects on health. “This is a cancer-causing agent and leads to nausea, loss of appetite, skin irritation, respiratory problem, cough and breathlessness,” he said. However, he said, there was no harm in eating fresh local fish.
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