Traders preserving food items with formalin should be arrested and prosecuted given the danger the chemical poses to human health, Dr Philip Asare, a senior medical doctor at the Emmanuel Community Hospital, Accra, has said.

His comment follows a revelation made by Professor Kwabena Frimpong-Boateng, Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, asking koobi sellers to stop using formalin to preserve the food since it is dangerous to human health.

Prof Frimpong-Boateng said formalin was being used particularly to preserve “koobi”, dried tilapia, and that was a recipe for cancer in people. According to him, formalin, which is a chemical used to stop dead bodies from rotting, is also being used by traders to preserve the fish, thus making it stiff, have a rubbery feel, clear eyes, red gills, and take away its odour as well as drive away flies.

Formalin is a colourless strong-smelling chemical substance usually used in industry of textiles, plastics, papers, paint, construction, and well known to preserve human corpse.

It is derived from formaldehyde gas dissolved in water, a post on the site of the BIMC Hospital Nusa Dua, the first hospital in Indonesia with accreditation from Australian Council on Healthcare Standard International (ACHSI), has explained.

Speaking in an interview on Accra News on Monday February 27, Dr Asare said of the practice: “This means that they are jeopardising the health of people in their quest to enrich themselves. They should be arrested because of the severity of cancer. There is no cure for cancer. Many cancer patients lose their lives and so the perpetrators of this act should be arrested by the police and dealt with accordingly.

“Formalin is dangerous. It is meant for preserving dead bodies from decay and laboratory equipment and not meant for preserving fish. It should never be allowed to enter the human body either by ingestion or by inhalation.”