The New Nation - Internet Edition

Dr. M. S. Haq

At present, the actual number and the type of adulterators, as well as adulterated items (used in a wider sense) in Bangladesh are unknown to at least ordinary people of Bangladesh. Further, the quantity and the quality (in terms of say, degrees of adulteration) of adulterated items imported by the country - whether consciously or otherwise - are currently beyond the knowledge of those people. Factors such as: the role of the country's law enforcers and others in unearthing and dealing with relevant cases of adulteration and adulterated items in recent times; and the media projection (print, electronic) of those cases as applicable have been instrumental in inter alia opening up the eyes of public when it comes to behind the scene faces of adulterated fruits, adulterated medicines, adulterated fishes, adulterated engineering materials and so on.

The production or the marketing or the consumption or the use (or any combination of them) of adulterated items has known outcomes, as well as ramifications of various types, magnitudes and durations - among other things. The cause, effect and causality of for example: many known diseases; intra and inter-generational insufficiency; productivity and longevity related losses of human and other living beings; reductions in real or actual or both product values; poor returns on investments; poor product efficiencies; high public health costs; high budget deficits; more bio-diversity losses (used in a wider sense); and higher demands for research, development and engineering (RDE) in pertinent areas; can or could, in many respects and in varying degrees, be linked to - both at present and in the foreseeable future - adulteration of known or currently unknown nature and types - relative to time, space and other variables, though.

Adulteration is inter alia a crime against humanity and a crime against other living-beings because it, if unchecked, has the capacity and capability to cause inter alia sizeable damage to not only the present generation of human and other living beings but the future generation or generations of human and other living beings - in qualitative, quantitative and other terms - relative again to time, space and other variables.

Adulteration must be eliminated from affected societies to at least an acceptable extent as soon as humanly possible. It is, among other things, a great threat to human survival or continuity or both.

Member states of UN, WTO, INTERPOL, civil society, and others should explore the possibility of introducing appropriate legal instruments including inter alia a legal framework - if such things do exist, then they should undergo a BMR (balancing, modernization and rehabilitation) exercise - for dealing with the crime, the accused, the victims and others related with the crime at local, global and other levels - in a tough or tougher, effective or more effective, and efficient or more efficient manner - as appropriate.

The time is ripe now for Bangladesh and other concerned countries to examine the feasibility of introducing death penalty as the maximum punishment for adulterators in not too distant a future. Further, efforts towards enhancement and strengthening of for example, product (used in a wider sense) testing and certification regimes at local and other levels should be geared up. Testing and research laboratories, university laboratories, law enforcement agencies, agencies associated with trading, certification agencies, professional bodies, health and nutrition departments, customs, excise and other revenue collection departments, law and justice departments, chambers of commerce and industries, anticorruption entities, intelligence agencies, the media (print, electronic and others), people's parliaments, civil society groups and others of concerned countries including Bangladesh will be required to play, as needed and among other things, a more constructive and result-oriented role in meeting the growing challenges of adulteration therein on a sustainable basis and in a result-oriented fashion.

In that respect, the efficiency and effectiveness of bi and multilateral technical and other cooperation in pertinent areas need to be reviewed and strengthened, as required. Let us work towards that with strong commitments and determinations plus innovative, as well as result-seeking mindsets.