Nagaland | Naga Hospital Authority Kohima issues warning against formalin

KOHIMA, July 20, 2018: The Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK) has issued a public advisory listing the effects of formalin on the human body.

In the advisory, the NHAK draws links between the preservative and increasing chronic kidney and liver diseases in Nagaland.

The move comes in the midst of the Nagaland health department's endeavour to detect and destroy formalin-laced fish and crustacean products in Nagaland.

It said the use of formalin as food preservative may be a cause for the increasing number of chronic kidney and liver diseases in the state.

Neighbouring states Assam, Meghalaya and Manipur that have also intensified efforts to check the sale of fish preserved by formalin.

"Experiments on animals on ingestion of formalin showed pharyngeal and gastric irritation with a significant increase in the thickness of stomach lining epithelium and irritation to the mucus membrane. Formalin is significantly related with cancer particularly nasopharyngeal cancer in humans through inhalation during occupational exposure and can cause gastrointestinal cancer when administered with drinking water in high concentration. Ingestion of large amounts of formalin can cause severe abdominal pain, vomiting, cancer, renal injury and possible death in humans," it warned.

Most fish in the Northeast are imported from Andhra Pradesh.

There are reports that currently formalin is being used widely and illegally in fish to keep it fresh, it observed.

Formalin is a toxic substance that can kill bacteria and virus, and prolong the shelf life of food by protecting against deterioration caused by micro-organisms.

TNT News with The Telegraph inputs ( https://www.telegraphindia.com/)