 |
Dicyanamide
contaminated milk could causes serious health issues
|
The
Industrial Technology Institute (ITI) of Sri Lanka, which tested samples of
imported milk powder, had detected Dicyanamide (DCD) in all of them, but the
Health authorities had not taken any action to ban those products, CeyNews
reported. But no traces of DCD were detected in local brands of milk that were
tested for DCD by ITI. Many laboratory tests on samples of milk products taken from the market have been officially conducted by ITI and detected that a harmful substance called Dicyanmide was present in all imported milk products.
The
Government Medical Officers’ Association (GMOA) had decided to bring the issue
to the attention of the minister of health Minister Maithripala Sirisena and
ask him to ban the imported milk products as the companies had been doing so
for a long time. Dicyanamide was mixed with grass to feed the cows to enhance
their milk output. The GMOA would request the Criminal
Investigation Department (CID) to find the person in the Health Ministry who
had made a statement to the media that the imported milk powder sold in
the local market was safe though the laboratory investigation conducted by the
ITC had revealed that the imported products contained Dicyanamide
It
had been scientifically proved that Dicyanamide could cause nervous,
respiratory and kidney complications and the milk product importers had done more
harm than good to Sri Lanka, GMOA Assistant
Secretary Dr. Ariyaratne said. He warned that Sri Lankan children might develop
a variety of health complications unless the harmful imported milk products
were banned. It was a shame that a person in the Health Ministry had made a
statement to the media that he had received a report issued by the Thai
government that the imported milk products sold in Sri Lanka did not cause any
harm to humans. It was evident that multinational companies had greased the
palms of health ministry high officials to propagate misinformation, Dr.
Ariyaratne told.
GMOA
Media Secretary Dr. Navin de Soysa said that Health Minister Maithripala
Sirisena, who claimed to be a campaigner against fraud, corruption and
malpractices was silent on the issue. Dr. Navin de Soysa said that his
organisation would ask Health Minister Sirisena to ban imported milk powder and
ask the multinational milk product companies to pay compensation to the people
and children who consumed their products. It is high time action was taken to
protect the children and the people of Sri Lanka and deafening silence on the part of health authorities and Heath Minister was puzzling," Dr. Soysa emphasized.
