This is in response to Shafi Ahmed’s comments on melamine in milk (November 12). Melamine is a nitrogen-rich white crystalline compound, with the chemical formula C3H6 N6. It is water soluble, its solubility being 3.1 gm/litre at 20 oC. Contrary to the assumption of Shafi Ahmed, melamine is not a plastic. But it can be condensed with formaldehyde to produce melamine resin, which is a very durable thermosetting plastic.
   Melamine is a synthetic chemical that does not occur in food. However, it is added fraudulently in various items of food including milk to increase the apparent protein content. Its intake has been related to kidney stones and other health problems. Infants are highly vulnerable to melamine contamination as milk can often be their primary food source. They can consume more melamine per unit of body weight than older children and adults who consume a variety of foods. Thus if an infant weighing 5 kg drinks a litre of melamine contaminated milk and absorbs all the melamine in that milk, it would get 620 mg/kg. This dose, consumed over a period of time, can lead to the formation of kidney stones.
   The government of Taiwan has recently adopted a policy of zero tolerance standard for melamine content in food products. It is expected that the government of Bangladesh should adopt similar policy. It is not just food products that come from abroad. Various imported health products such as drugs and vaccines supplied to Bangladeshis must be subjected to careful examination so that harmful biological products are not administered to our people.
   Ratan Sarkar
   Via e-mail

The news that our two leaders are ready to sit down together and talk is indeed an extremely good piece of political news for us all after a very long time. It is 15 years too late but then as they say, it is better late than never. Also, this period is a very critical one and a lot of the country’s future depends on the way they conduct themselves and lead their parties because, the best efforts of this government notwithstanding, the two leaders are now more in charge than they were when this government had taken them to jail on alleged cases of corruption.
   It is also good to see that such a meeting, if held, will be with the government and not with Barrister Rafiq that renders credibility to the initiative. This meeting should be a three-way one with the chief adviser and the two leaders and should be held away from the media that helps nothing to the process except creating drama and fanfare that we could very well do away with.
   As far as the people of the country are concerned, all three have a lot to answer for each has been responsible for the sad state of affairs in Bangladesh. The two leaders’ non-cooperation has cost Bangladesh the change to have been by now well on way to a middle income group instead of hovering between stagnation and a failed state. The military-backed intervention that brought Fakhruddin to office has, according to business community of the country, pushed back Bangladesh at least two decades in economic development.
   All three, who would be sitting at the expected meeting, have a great deal to answer. However, this is not the appropriate time to hold any of these three to task for despite the nation’s grievances against them, they hold the key to our future. As for the two leaders, the elections will be the dock where they will be made to answer and keeping that in mind, we can at least expect after all the sufferings that the nation has gone through, they will finally show that they have a conscience and they will now put the nation ahead of their dislike for each other and their party and narrow self-interest behind by putting the nation first.
   Fakhruddin is already under a cloud for the nature his government came to office. A lot has already been written about it and it is needless to dwell anymore here on the issue. The nation is expecting that he will negotiate with the two leaders with sincerity by putting the nation ahead of his own interest and of the group he represents. It is time for him to stop listening to the military intelligence that has been pulling all the strings for him to act so far. Let him be a man finally.
   Shahjahan Ahmed
   Dhanmondi, Dhaka