ISLAMABAD: The next time you buy poultry and dairy products, you may want to ask the vendor where they sourced it from since the meat and milk available in the markets of the capital are apparently contaminated with a host of hormones and steroids causing various diseases among children and women.
This was disclosed by the District Health Officer Dr Muhammad Tahir while briefing the Senate Standing Committee on National Health.
He told lawmakers that chicken and buffalos are injected with oxytocin to help double the production of chicken meat and buffalo milk that is wreaking havoc with the health of women and children.
The food produced from such adulterated milk and meat is harmful for human consumption and can cause a host of diseases, afflicting the liver, 
kidney, and heart.
Moreover, the chicken causes various reproductive issues among women including vaginal problems, he added. To control the use of oxytocin, Dr Tahir suggested that the price of the injection should be increased so that it cannot be used for profiteering.
Suggesting that people avoid eating chicken, the health official said that people can opt to purchase chickens raised traditionally in homes.
He also advised creating awareness amongst the public about the dangers of poultry and dairy products.
Giving details about contaminated milk, Dr Tahir said that authorities had confiscated and dumped around 25,000 litres of milk from Sargodha and Rawat which had been contaminated with detergent and urea.
He suggested that there was room for further legislation which expands the jurisdiction of the commissioner’s office for taking wider and effective implementation in the matter. Senator Ateeq Shaikh showed his concern over the matter and requested the committee’s chairman, Senator Sajid Hussain Turi, to send a letter to the Pakistan Dairy Association to provide clarification.
