Rampant food adulteration in Bangladesh: Gross violations of fundamental human rights with impunity

Food adulteration in Bangladesh is rampant and an increasingly serious concern for its residents. Several studies including those of the Directorate General of Health Services reveal that hundreds of people are getting killed every year eating adulterated foodstuffs and no one seems to have any real concern about such a life-threatening wrongful act. Food adulteration is criminally prohibited, but the wrongdoers care little about this proscription simply because of the continued apathy of the governmental agencies concerned and implicit acceptance or insensible ignorance of consumers. However, the current fragmented legal and regulatory regime for food safety in Bangladesh falls short of international standards. This article demonstrates that the Government of Bangladesh is obliged to prevent food adulteration and to punish perpetrators under its international as well as constitutional obligations. It is also submitted that effective regulation of such an endemic malfeasance entails weakening the offenders by adopting international standards and educating the consumers at the same time

A clinical study of arrhythmias associated with acute coronary syndrome: a hospital based study of a high risk and previously undocumented population

Background: ACS represents a global epidemic. Arrhythmia in ACS is common. Careful investigation may lead to further improvement of prognosis. Retrospectively analyzed the year- round data of our center. Study was undertaken to analyze the incidence, frequency and type of arrhythmias in ACS. This is to aid timely intervention and to modify the outcome. Identification of the type of arrhythmia is of therapeutic and prognostic importance.Methods: This cross sectional analytical study was conducted in the Department of Cardiology, Apollo Hospitals Dhaka, from January 2019 to January 2020 with ACS patients. Enrolled consecutively and data analyzed.Results: There were 500 patients enrolled considering inclusion and exclusion criteria. Sample was subdivided into 3 groups on the type of ACS. Group-I with UA, Group-II with NSTE - ACS and Group-III with STE - ACS. Different types of arrhythmia noted. Types of arrhythmia were correlated with type of ACS. 500 patients included. Mean age 55.53±12.70, 71.6% male and 28.4% female. 60.4% hypertensive, 46.2% diabetic, 20.2% positive family history of CAD, 32.2% current smoker, 56.4% dyslipidaemic and 9.6% asthmatic. 31.2% UA, 39.2% NSTE-ACS and 29.6% STE-ACS. Type of arrhythmias noted. 22% sinus tachycardia, 20.2% sinus bradycardia, 9% atrial fibrillation, 5.2% ventricular ectopic, 4.8% supra ventricular ectopic, 2.8% bundle branch block, 2.2% atrio-ventricular block, 1% broad complex tachycardia, 0.4% narrow complex tachycardia, 0.2% sinus node dysfunction and 32.2% without any arrhythmia. Significant incidences of arrhythmia detected - respectively 29.8%, 39.2% and 31%, p<0.001.Conclusions: In conclusion, arrhythmias in ACS are common. More attention should be paid to improve their treatment and prognosis

Food safety offenses In New South Wales, Australia: a critical appreciation of their Complexities

Food is essentially a primary need of all life to remain alive. Faults or carelessness of human beings renders foods unsafe, which may cause disease and death. This article examines selected food safety offenses of New South Wales aimed at assessing their definitional clarity and penal rationality looking through the lens of an offender\u27s culpability. It carries out a critical analysis based on archival materials and concludes that the present offense provisions hold significant merits to regulate food safety; however, further clarity of their inherent complexities could enhance their efficacy

Extensive food adulteration in Bangladesh: a violation of fundamental human rights and the state’s binding obligations

© The Author(s) 2014. The right to life is inherently connected with the right to food which implies that any foodstuff be nutritious and safe. The government of Bangladesh bears binding obligations to protect these rights under both international human rights instruments and its national constitution. The violation of these rights has, nonetheless, been commonplace causing numerous human deaths and terminal diseases. The perpetrators have been adulterating foods, flouting laws with impunity and taking advantage of regulatory impotence and governmental lenience for decades. Laws exist in books, regulators subsist in theory, but consumers die without remedies. This situation must not prevail forever as every human has an inherent right to live until their natural demise. This article aims to explore the binding obligations of the government to prevent food adulteration and to protect people’s essential rights. It highlights that numerous laws exist almost invisibly in the country, and recommends that their enforcement be reinforced in order to protect the people who are exposed to the overly contaminated food markets in Bangladesh

Dishonest and excessive use of antibiotics in meat producing animals in Bangladesh: a regulatory review

The article aims to bring about regulatory reforms concerning excessive use of medically important antimicrobials (MIA) on meat producing animals (MPA) in Bangladesh. An excessive use of MIA with a dishonest motive of artificially fattening animals including poultry chickens has been commonplace in Bangladesh. The usage of MIA in such a manner has the potential to create antimicrobial resistant infections in the animals, which can be transmitted to humans through food, direct contact with MPA or even via environmental spread. Such a transmission has already massively occurred in Bangladesh. In formulating recommendations, we critically analyse the existing regulatory functions and employ both empirical and doctrinal methods of analysis. Our empirical research reveals that the regulatory laxity, profit motive, and ignorance of antibiotics users and meat consumers about the latent harm are major factors contributing to the unsafe use of MIA. To address these factors, we submit eleven specific recommendations for necessary reforms

The most serious offenses and penalties concerning unsafe foods under the Food Safety Laws in Bangladesh, India, and Australia: a critical analysis

Food safety is a requirement on which similarity is warranted irrespective of the socioeconomic status of any consumer anywhere on earth at any given time. This is because unsafe foods seriously affect human health and cause loss of life including terminal diseases leading to an early demise. This issue is thus directly concerned with the right to life, which is a universally recognized human right, as well as a constitutionally protected fundamental right enshrined in many national constitutions including those of Bangladesh and India. This critical right is legally protected in Australia though it has not been embraced in its national constitution

Civil liabilities for unsafe foods in Bangladesh and Australia: a comparative perspective on consumer protection

The statutory laws concerning food safety, which allow the consumers affected by unsafe foods to claim compensation for their loss or damage in Bangladesh, are flawed in several respects. These flaws are argued to have harmful impacts on consumer protection. The ineffective legislation in the absence of application of the common law principles of negligence has left the consumers virtually helpless in securing remedies for their injuries. This article endeavors to critically examine the ambiguities and shortcomings in the Consumer Rights Protection Act 2009 (Bangladesh) looking through the prisms of the Australian Consumer Law 2010 and relevant case law from major common law jurisdictions. It discovers a number of weaknesses in the legislation of Bangladesh and provides specific suggestions for strengthening the civil liability provisions from the perspective of consumer protection by preventing their contraventions and providing adequate compensation

Regulatory Convergence and Risk Regulation Theory in Nanotechnology Governance for Bangladesh\u27s Food Industry

The complex landscape of nanotechnology utilisation in the food industry, concerned with po-tential legal consequences, warrants meticulous examination. Bangladesh, in its pursuit of regulatory alignment, has adopted the regulatory convergence theory, mirroring the practices of other nations in the deployment of nanomaterials within food products. Conversely, developed nations, exemplified by the European Union (EU) and the United States (US), implement a ju-risprudentially sound, risk assessment-based approach inspired by the risk regulation theory to govern nanotechnology. The current research examines the legal and regulatory mechanisms underlying nanotechnology deployment within Bangladesh\u27s food industry, concurrently as-sessing the frameworks embodied by the EU and the US. The comprehensive analysis exposes profound inadequacies within the regulatory convergence theory, casting doubt on its appro-priateness for Bangladesh\u27s nanotechnology application. This paper ascertains, through rigor-ous legal analysis, that Bangladesh should refrain from further reliance on the flawed regulatory convergence. Instead, this article advocates the adoption of a more legally sound regulatory framework, inspired by the risk regulation theory, harmonising its practices with those of the EU and US counterparts. These legal and regulatory recommendations are rooted in established legal precedents and principles, ensuring the integrity of Bangladesh\u27s nanotechnol-ogy governance in the food sector and safeguarding the rights and interests of consumers