A voter is taking Election Commission (EC) chairperson Abdul Aziz Mohd Yusof to task for a recent statement that silver nitrate content of more than 1 percent in indelible ink could cause cancer or kidney damage, which the former claimed is untrue.
Disputing this, Stephen Ng, who claims to be a chemist by training, said such serious health effects are not even listed on the material safety data sheet (MSDS) of the AgNO3 compound, or silver nitrate, which instead states there is no available evidence of carcinogenic, mutanic or teratonic effects.
The MSDS is a document which denotes health and safety information pertaining to the properties of a particular substance of chemical.
“I find this statement to be obnoxious, coming from the chairperson of a government agency which is supposed to be independent and entrusted to conduct a fair and clean election,” he said in an email to Malaysiakini.
Furthermore, he claimed silver nitrate, in its 99.99 percent purity form, can be readily purchased online.
“If is so serious as to cause cancer and damage the kidney, this would have been carefully studied, not to mention that sale of silver nitrate online would have been banned,” he reasoned.
Disputing this, Stephen Ng, who claims to be a chemist by training, said such serious health effects are not even listed on the material safety data sheet (MSDS) of the AgNO3 compound, or silver nitrate, which instead states there is no available evidence of carcinogenic, mutanic or teratonic effects.The MSDS is a document which denotes health and safety information pertaining to the properties of a particular substance of chemical.
“I find this statement to be obnoxious, coming from the chairperson of a government agency which is supposed to be independent and entrusted to conduct a fair and clean election,” he said in an email to Malaysiakini.
Furthermore, he claimed silver nitrate, in its 99.99 percent purity form, can be readily purchased online.
“If is so serious as to cause cancer and damage the kidney, this would have been carefully studied, not to mention that sale of silver nitrate online would have been banned,” he reasoned.
'Blatant lying' by the EC
Abdul Aziz (below) had made the statement in an interview which appeared on Singapore’s Straits Times on May 12.
When questioned on the delible nature of the ink, he had stated that the EC was unable to add more silver nitrate to the ink mixture after being allegedly informed of the chemical compound’s effects on users by the Malaysian Health Ministry.
“We paid about RM6 million and it wasn't low-quality ink. The problem was that we couldn't put more than 1 percent of silver nitrate in the ink and the silver nitrate is what makes the ink last.
“We got a letter from the Health Ministry telling us that if we put more than 1 percent of silver nitrate in the ink, it could damage the kidney and cause cancer,” he had said in the interview.
Ng further accused Abdul Aziz and the EC of “blatantly lying” to the people, and said their insistence that the controversial ink will last for seven days, but which was since proven to be easily removable, tantamounts to “criminal breach of trust (CBT)”.
Ng said he himself was able to remove virtually all traces of the ink from his finger after voting, by first using plain soapy water, toothpaste and thinner and finally, Clorox.
“We paid about RM6 million and it wasn't low-quality ink. The problem was that we couldn't put more than 1 percent of silver nitrate in the ink and the silver nitrate is what makes the ink last.“We got a letter from the Health Ministry telling us that if we put more than 1 percent of silver nitrate in the ink, it could damage the kidney and cause cancer,” he had said in the interview.
Ng further accused Abdul Aziz and the EC of “blatantly lying” to the people, and said their insistence that the controversial ink will last for seven days, but which was since proven to be easily removable, tantamounts to “criminal breach of trust (CBT)”.
Ng said he himself was able to remove virtually all traces of the ink from his finger after voting, by first using plain soapy water, toothpaste and thinner and finally, Clorox.
He who had lodged a police report on the matter at the Desa Jaya station in Sentul,
“With over RM6 million spent on the indelible ink, which is easily removed, this is nothing but a serious CBT.
“I therefore urge the police to investigate the case seriously as this involves huge sum of public funds, and help to restore public confidence in our EC and other public institutions,” Ng said.
“With over RM6 million spent on the indelible ink, which is easily removed, this is nothing but a serious CBT.
“I therefore urge the police to investigate the case seriously as this involves huge sum of public funds, and help to restore public confidence in our EC and other public institutions,” Ng said.
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