They may be soft on the hands but not that soft on your health. Detergents containing phosphates pose a health risk that has not yet been recognised fully in India. According to experts, detergents contain many ingredients that are harmful not only to the environment but also to human health.
Experts from the Harcourt Butler Technological Institute in Kanpur, state that the presence of excess phosphorus and its compounds in water make it unfit for consumption. Phosphorus is an essential nutrient that aids the growth of aquatic plants called blooms. That not only give a foul odour to the water, but also increase the concentration of disease causing organisms. The quality of water is thus compromised. If such water containing pathogenic organisms is consumed, it may lead to symptoms like fever, headache, dizziness, stomach cramps, diarrhoea and vomiting. Exposure to such water can also cause skin allergies and eye irritation.
The Indian authorities are considerably lax about the issue of health risks due to environmental hazards. The procedure for identification and control in India is very different from some other developed countries. The latter are striving to bring out technologies to extract harmful substances from sewage before they can reach the fresh water bodies which are a source of drinking water. However, in India, there are no such technologies despite the presence of 14 major rivers which become contaminated due to activities like washing clothes.
Environment experts have made suggestions on how to overcome the harm caused by detergents in the CIDA Shastri Project, an Indo-Canadian joint project on environmental issues. One of the recommendations is that no detergent should have more than 5 percent phosphorus. The Canadian government had formulated the Canadian Water Act restricting the concentration of phosphorus in detergents to 2.2 percent following public pressure. Before the problem takes unmanageable proportions, it may be better that we act on the recommendations and effectively 'deter' the agents from wreaking further havoc.
PTI