Nairobi News

NewsWhat's Hot

Medics: don’t wrap meat with newspapers, it’s unhygienic


Kenyans have been warned against heeding President Uhuru Kenyatta’s advice of using newspapers as “meat-wrappers” as it is a health hazard.

Medics cite the printing press, the mode of transport and at the vendors’ place as points where newspapers comes into contact with disease-causing germs.

They argue the newspaper could trigger cholera outbreak like the one the country is currently battling with.

So, stick to just the main purpose of newspapers – read them only.

According to Andrew Suleh, Chair of the Board at Health Rights Advocacy Forum, the practice of wrapping meat with newspapers should actually be outlawed in the country.

“Health Message Wrapping meat using newspapers can spread cholera,” says Dr Suleh, who has been at the forefront in the ongoing fight against cholera in the country.

“The use of newspaper to wrap meat should be outlawed to avoid what transpired over the weekend.”

HARMFUL CHEMICALS

Newspapers are made from recycled paper that may be contaminated with harmful chemicals which can cause digestive problems and also lead to severe toxicity.

According to health experts, recycled paper may be contaminated with harmful chemicals. The paper could also have traces of ink from its previous publishing stint and this is harmful too.

Ink residues have been found to contain hormone disruptors like benzophenones and mineral oils which can interfere with reproductive cycle, especially in women.

Moving on to the next stage of publishing after the paper is recycled, it is printed with ink that can easily get leached into foods wrapped in them.

The solvent used to dissolve ink on the paper can be potentially carcinogenic hence a user risks contracting cancer from consuming foods wrapped in newspapers.

Previous researches have shown that newspaper ink contains amoratic hydrocarbons and naphthylamine.

These chemical reagents are suspected to cause lung and bladder cancer among people with long term exposure to newspaper inks.