The Syrian Observatory For Human Rights

As supervision and conscience go missing northwest Syria, ‎unidentified goods with no expiry date sneak into the markets

The areas that are controlled by Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham and the ‎factions northwest of Syria are witnessing the spread of fake and ‎unknown foreign goods of low quality competing with prices of ‎other products, due to the absence of supply control and the ‎increase in prices of the original imported materials.‎

In these areas, the Syrian citizen and vulnerable displaced people ‎have become a portal to sell these goods, due to the chaos and ‎the growing number of displaced people in a small geographical ‎area, this has encouraged the establishment of local industries, ‎particularly baby food, which are now spreading in the shops ‎competing with prices of other poor goods. These products lack ‎the lowest levels of supervision and quality, and they rarely have ‎a production date of product contents.‎

Most of these goods cause health problems and endanger ‎children’s lives, a large number of sweets and food for children ‎are spreading within the markets, some of which do not bear any ‎signs indicating the country of origin, place of manufacture, the ‎manufacturing company, or the expiration date, which may pose ‎a threat on children if they eat them.‎

In the manufacturing process, additional substances such as ‎flavor enhancers, preservatives, and colors are being added to ‎help in increasing the desire of consumers and attract them, ‎these substances should be added to the food in specified ‎proportions and levels according to the global standards, without ‎any increase or decrease, because any difference in these ‎internationally accepted ratios will make the food taste different, ‎decreasing the willingness to accept it, also, these colored ‎materials have health effects on pregnant women, children, and ‎the elderly.‎

The colored substances also cause problems such as skin ‎allergies, respiratory allergies, and weakening in the immune ‎system. A lot of them cause birth defects in the embryos of ‎pregnant women.‎

In his testimony to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a ‎health worker in the northwest of Syria spoke about the damages of ‎these manufactured materials.‎
He stressed that most of the cases that come to the hospitals are ‎acute intestine diseases among children, especially as a result of ‎those locally manufactured foods, being poorly stored, as well as ‎being contaminated.‎
In a related context, Iranian goods, which are considered the ‎worst and cheapest in the market compared to other materials, ‎are spreading.‎
The residents demand these goods to be banned from the ‎liberated areas because of the profits they make to the Iranian ‎government, which is under economic sanctions, in addition to ‎the Iranian role in the war with the regime forces since the ‎beginning of the revolution and its killing of the Syrians.‎

Amid this carelessness in these areas starting from the crossings -‎which are supposed to prevent the expired goods from entering ‎the areas until the Rescue Government that manages areas of ‎control of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, which is a part of this ‎corruption. Most merchants import goods from Turkey or other ‎p[laces that have strong relationships and partnerships with ‎members and Emirs of Hayyaat Tahrir al-Sham, preventing any ‎other party from holding traders accountable not even the stores ‎that sell their goods.‎
With no supervision over these products and the fact that they are not being inspected ‎to know their components and the potential harm they have; the ‎only loser became the Syrian citizen, who turned by the economic ‎conditions to a target for the greedy traders, those who do not ‎see the Syrian citizen as a human being, but rather as financial ‎value, no more.‎