Safe food is a fundamental human right. We eat to survive, we eat to live healthily. There is no alternative to food to sustain life. But how safe is what we eat every day in the name of food? All we see around us is a procession of scum. National health is under threat today due to the lack of safe food. There is no alternative to safe food to live healthily. But we buy twenty in the name of food every day with money. Every person needs pure, safe and nutritious food for good health. And this pure, safe and nutritious food is absolutely essential for building a healthy and prosperous nation. Without good health, all our needs fail. For good health, we want safe food, a safe environment and economic security. Healthy food is a healthy life, or safe food is a safe life, a safe nation. But in our country, some unscrupulous and profit-hungry businessmen and shopkeepers have made it difficult to obtain pure, safe and nutritious food. From production to marketing, food is being turned unsafe and poisonous at every step.
170 million people are in fear of adulteration today. Living healthily is my fundamental and constitutional right. Ensuring that assurance is the main task of a state. We eat to live, not to die. Due to food insecurity, the incidence of kidney, liver, cancer and heart disease is increasing at an unimaginable rate. Food fulfills the nutritional needs of people, keeps them healthy and strong and makes people functional. But what we eat in the name of food is not food but poison. In fact, we are constantly buying poison with money in the name of food. Adulterated food is constantly pushing us to the face of death. We are getting sick. Sick people are a burden for the family, society, country and nation. Extra time, money and thoughts have to be spent on a sick person. Working hours are wasted. The lives of crores of people are facing threat today due to adulterated food. Now food means formalin, carbide, hydrose, peroxide, aspartame, ethopene and various harmful dyes and poisons. We are helpless, we are hostages to adulterators. How long will this situation continue in a country? Along with adulterated food, syndicates supplying adulterated and expired medicines are active. Due to adulteration and expiry, life-saving medicines play an effective role as life-destroying ones.
We are constantly being preyed upon by a group of greedy profit-seeking businessmen. Due to food adulteration, the national healthcare system and economy are under threat today. Due to adulterated food, sick children are being born and they are suffering from malnutrition. As a result, we see a malnourished and sick nation in front of us. Which is not desirable in any way. Due to food adulteration, various types of cancer, liver cirrhosis, kidney failure, heart disease, asthma, etc., are increasing at an alarming rate. The lines of patients at hospitals and doctors are getting longer and longer. If we cannot provide safe food, the nation will eventually become crippled. Due to food adulteration alone, 3 lakh people are getting cancer every year in the country. The number of people suffering from kidney disease is about 3 lakh, the number of people suffering from diabetes is 1 lakh 50 thousand. In addition, the number of children born with disabilities due to physical complications of pregnant mothers is about 1.7 lakh in the country.
Food adulteration and the production of counterfeit medicines have taken an epidemic shape in the country. 70% of food in Dhaka city and 50% in rural areas is adulterated. If the state does not take effective measures against adulterated food and counterfeit medicines now, it will be difficult to deal with this situation. Food adulteration is not only a physical harm, but national development is also being hindered due to food adulteration. Food adulteration is a crime of murder. Making adulterated medicines and selling expired medicines is also a crime of murder. After adulteration and expiration, there is no medicine left. It becomes poison. They cannot be given shelter in any way. We must be strict and vocal against adulterers. A zero tolerance policy must be adopted for safe food and medicines. The campaign against adulterers must always be ongoing. A social movement must be built. No matter how powerful the adulterer is, his identity is that he is an adulterer and he is nothing to the state power. Cases of state murder and charges of treason must be filed against adulterers. Anyone who takes a stand in favor of adulterers must also be brought under the law.
The number of adulterers is not large. It may be a handful. But its consumers are 160 million people and the future generations. It is our responsibility to keep them safe. Countless people are being pushed to the brink of death by adulterating and poisoning food. There is a provision of life imprisonment in India and death in China for the crime of adulterating food. In our country too, Section 25(C) 1(e) of the Special Powers Act of 1974 states that if an offender mixes or sells adulterated food and medicines, he will be punished with death penalty or life imprisonment or 14 years imprisonment. Why is the law not enforced? Even though fines are sometimes imposed on adulterers through mobile phones, they again celebrate adulteration with renewed enthusiasm. All soft drinks that increase the risk of kidney, liver, and cancer should be banned. Their complaints should be settled within a month, declared non-bailable and ineligible for amnesty, and the maximum punishment should be death penalty or life imprisonment. By ensuring proper implementation of the law, we will be able to ensure pure, safe and nutritious food. For food security, life safety and national health security, new laws must be formulated and implemented as necessary. This is our expectation that pure, safe and nutritious food must be ensured to build a healthy and beautiful nation in the future.
