Cab at a discussion in the capital yesterday stressed a consumer movement to resist counterfeit, adulterated and below-par products produced in the country to save lives of the people.

Quoting a report published by the Institute of Public Health (IPH), a Cab researcher, Emdad Hossain Malek, said 96 percent sweets in the city are made by adulterated materials while 54 percent bread, 59 percent ice cream and 24 percent biscuits are adulterated.

Quoting a Cab survey on perfume products in January, he said 91.56 percent of the products do not mention the raw materials used, 94.45 percent had no manufacturing and 97.23 percent products no expiry dates.

The CAB researcher in his paper also noted of 11 brands of ghee available in the market, 82 percent are adulterated and most of the bottled waters are not healthy and pure. Besides, traders are selling fruits and vegetables using chemical to make them look fresh and matured.

The absence of a standard institute for the gold sector is allowing the gold traders to rip the clients off, Malek added.

Kazi Faruque, general secretary of Cab, said the producers are deceiving consumers for ages cashing in on a lack of consumer awareness. He observed that there is no alternative to agitating against the deluge of fake and sub-standard products.

Prof. Syed Rashidul Hasan, treasurer of Dhaka University, said adulteration has spread out in all spheres of the country. Now it is about time Cab held a national convention to inform the people about how much adulterated and sub-standard food they are taking in order to launch an agitation, he said.

S K Saha, deputy director of Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institute (BSTI), said many companies or factories are selling their products using the fake BSTI label. "It is not true that the BSTI label always ensures quality of products."