Mongolia bans acetic acid

Acetic acid is now included in the list of chemicals forbidden for use in Mongolia.

The Ministry of Environment and Green Development and the Ministry for Health announced a ban on the use of more than 25 percent concentrate acetic acid up to 500ml for food consumption from January 1st 2013, by Government decree number 145.

According to a report by the World Health Organization the third reason of health disorders among the world’s population is food poisoning and chemical misuse.

Deaths of acute food poisoning and misuse of chemicals have increased in past years in Mongolia. Acute poisoning from chemicals is listed as the fifth highest reason for death.

The most frequent incidents among them are misuse of acetic acid with 50-80 percent concentrate or with suicidal intentions.

A total of 4436 incidents of chemical poisoning were registered at the Emergency Center between 2003 and 2011. Over 500 of the incident were caused by acetic acid acute poisoning.

Every year 50 to 60 people suffer from acetic acid poisoning and 3 to 9 die because of acute poisoning. Almost 479 children were delivered to the Center for Maternal and Child Health of Mongolia over the last decade.