THIS is apropos the reports ‘Import of hazardous cooking oil’ (April 11) and ‘China, India face huge cancer burden’ (April 12).

The first story says import of used cooking oil -– a banned item not fit for human consumption -– is thriving in Pakistan. Some 20,000 tons of used oil is wrongly declared as residue of fatty acid substances and acid oil. It is imported from five Muslim countries, as well as from Thailand, Sri Lanka, the Philippines, Australia, the US and Singapore.

This oil is imported by wrongly declaring it as soap raw material but marketed locally as edible stuff after semi-bleaching and deodorising.

This is used for various cooking purposes, including possibly by roadside sellers of potato chips, pakoras, samosas, ‘jalebis’, etc.

It is dangerous for health, and also robs the exchequer of nearly Rs1bn in revenue.

Reheating cooking oils was first shown by researchers at a Spanish university to produce certain chemicals called aldehydes.

These are compounds that can react with proteins, hormones and enzymes and impede living organism’s correct functioning. Experts say these aldehydes may cause neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, and also some types of cancer.

The second report has raised the alarm that China and India are facing a cancer crisis for which various factors have been listed. While reused oil is not explicitly mentioned, it cannot be ruled out since oil is used so extensively in homes, shops and restaurants in developing countries. While the news is restricted to the two Asian countries, nations like Pakistan can’t be far behind.

Thus the government should ban the import of reused cooking oil because once it enters the country, the authorities won’t be able to ensure that it isn’t used for cooking.

Qamar Iqbal
Karachi