THE Health Ministry confirmed on Dec 22 that 21 chilli samples being sold in the market had pesticides in them.
This after a local daily reported that smuggled red chillies from Vietnam were found to be sold nationwide despite the government suspending the import permit since Sept 14.
Apparently, the ministry has been monitoring the import of chillies at the border since January. If so, how did the pesticide-ridden chillies get through to the market? And, if indeed the ministry was monitoring why not inform the people that poisonous veggies are in the market so that people can take the necessary precaution.
Experts say not all of the pesticides can be washed off that easily. Some even seep into the vegetables and fruits. Picture the poison that gets into your body: pesticides, fungicides and rodenticides. Little wonder increased frequencies in headaches and nausea of late.
According to the Centre for Science and Environment, a public interest research and advocacy organisation based in New Delhi, high levels of pesticide residues can be toxic enough to cause long-term cancer, damage to the nervous and reproductive systems, birth defects, and severe disruption of the immune system.
There are a number of things the Health Ministry can do to prevent people from ingesting poisonous chemicals.
Firstly, make enforcement robust. Do not just wait for the media to highlight such breaches before springing into action.
As the Federation of Malaysian Consumer Associations suggested to this newspaper on Oct 5, Malaysia should follow the example of Singapore’s stringent checks on food and vegetables before they are allowed to enter the republic.
If they run foul of our laws, they should be stopped from crossing our borders. Malaysian Quarantine Inspection Services of the Ministry of Agriculture can surely see to this.
Secondly, the Health Ministry must inform the people through all the communication channels when pesticides are detected.
This should have happened when pesticides were detected in the 21 samples of Vietnamese chillies.
People have the right to be informed early. Otherwise, it will be too little, too late. And to merely advise people to visit the ministry’s website isn’t enough, especially when one is required to register with all sorts of personal data before gaining access. It is not too difficult to be a little more user-friendly.
The Health Ministry is not the only player charged with the responsibility of ensuring that our food is safe to be eaten, especially the food that is grown locally.
The Ministry of Agriculture is the enforcement authority of the Pesticides Act 1974 while the Department of Environment has oversight of chemical discharge and industrial wastes including pesticides into the environment under the Environmental Quality Act 1974.
Cameron Highlands is often in the news for all the wrong reasons: pesticide-tainted rivers and vegetables. Better coordination among all the enforcement agencies will certainly go a long way in ensuring that only safe food gets out of the plough and onto the fork.