We released an
analytical study in early February on pesticide residues in bottled water sold in Delhi
and Mumbai. It showed that bottled water could contain up to 5 different pesticide
residues, that all brands we checked, except one, contained pesticide residues and that
these residues in some cases were as high as 104 times above the European Union (EU) norms
for acceptable residues in drinking water.
But more than the pesticides we found in the bottles,
what shocked us was that there are no regulations for pesticide residues in bottled water
in the country. Or put another way, the regulations are weak and ambiguous, giving enough
space to manufacturers, to use the norm as a loophole. The Prevention of Food Adulteration
Act (PFA) – under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare – which lays down
the standards, and the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) regulations – which certify
the companies only says that "pesticide residues should be below detectable
limits". The BIS then goes on to mandate a methodology for detection, which is not
sensitive and would allow high levels of residues to be present in water legally.
Interesting, this when the BIS norm for pesticide residue in drinking water says that
these should be "absent". Why, then was it diluted and fudged for the 1000-crore
industry? The business of food safety regulation is a serious business. It requires a high
order of scientific competence and integrity – both singularly lacking in this case.
Our study has had impact. There is general outrage and
shock at the findings. The government has not only set up an enquiry, but also already
announced that it will make the norms as stringent as the EU. But that being said, there
is still enormous work to be done by all of us.
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No immunisation
against plastics |
| In India plastics consumption triples
every decade |
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The health impacts
of plastics can be felt across every stage of life, from foetus to adulthood |
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Providing
alternatives and encouraging sensible policies on plastic use and recycling can reduce the
impacts of this menace |
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Plastics are
polymers (poly-many, meros-part), a long chain of molecules that is made of repeating
parts, called monomers. These can be natural or synthetic. All plastics are polymers, all
polymers not plastics, and the term typically refers to man-made thermoplastic polymers
(fibre, elastomer, thermoset) obtained from hydrocarbon sources like petroleum. About four
per cent of the oil extracted in the world is used to produce all the plastics used in
everyday life.1 About one third of the oil is used in the supply of all the |
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plastic
packaging needed by a modern society.2 The amount of oil used may look small when shown in
percentage but when converted it is billions of tonnes.
But why are plastics the preferred materials? First, they are lightweight for shipping and
storage. Two, large industries have large subsidies to extract oil and gas, and plastics
are the only offer as raw material for manufacturing industries - hence there is an in
built subsidy to produce plastic globally.The other thrust that plastic got was the rapid
decline in forests... |
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