Staff Reporter :
Bangladesh Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) on Tuesday submitted a report to the registrar office of Supreme Court (SC), which said that the formaldehyde Meter Z-300 was ‘unfit’ to detect formalin in fruits.
The machine can indicate wrong information about the presence of formalin, the BCSIR said in the report.
Advocate Manzill Murshid, who earlier moved a writ petition to the High Court seeking its directives on the government to examine the authenticity of this machine, also received a copy of the report.
The SC office and Advocate Murshid will now place the report to the HC after it reopens on October 20 after vacation.
In the report, the BCSIR said, in sample tests it has been found that the Z-300 indicates the presence of Formaldehyde both in the fresh fruits and the fruits drenched in Formaldehyde.
The report said, the Z-300 indicates the presence of Formaldehyde in fresh fruits kept in high temperature. So, it may produce a wrong result about the presence of formaldehyde in fruits in high temperature.
Moreover, the machine indicates presence of formaldehyde in fruits in presence of some evaporable chemicals like acetone, formic acid, Acetic acid, and methanol, it added.
However, various chemicals, including the above mentioned ones, may be found in fruits naturally.
After receiving the report, the petitioner said that Formaldehyde Meter Z-300 is not suitable for detecting harmful chemicals in fruits.
Citing the report, Advocate Murshid said, the machine is used to examine the presence of formaldehyde gas in the air. But the machine was used by mobile courts for detecting harmful chemicals in Bangladesh, which was not right.
The petitioner said he will pray to the High Court to direct the government not to use this machine.
The HC on July 21 directed the BCSIR and Bangladesh Standard and Testing Institute (BSTI) to examine the Formaldehyde Meter Z-300 and to submit separate reports to it in 30 days.
