Children engaged in battery recycling in Ctg
Saturday, 16 January 2010
Over 10,000 people, mostly children, are engaged in unsafe battery-recycling works in the port city and its surrounding areas, exposing themselves to various health hazards, according to a survey, reports UNB.
The survey, conducted by Human Development Society, a leading voluntary organisation of Chittagoan, said nearly 1000 recycling factories of the old lead-acid power cells had sprung up in the city and its suburban areas, some of those in even residential areas.
Kapashgola, Bakolia, Madar Bari, Agrabad, Muradpur, Mazirgath, Oxygen, Pahartali, Bhatiari, City Gate and Hamiar Char are among the places where battery-recycling factories are expanding in all diversities.
A section of greedy people are engaged in the old lead-acid batteries dismantling without approval from the Department of Environment (DoE), employing a large number of workers, mostly children, in the hazardous job.
In most cases, the juvenile workers were directly exposed to acid and lead poisoning, and other forms of chemical toxicity because of the unsafe working environment and lack of required safety precautions, the researchers said.
They said that the nation might have to pay a very high price in near future in tackling the health hazards being posed by the chemical toxicity if necessary attention with appropriate remedial approach was not given immediately.
Abul Kalam Azad, a teacher of Communication and Journalism at Chittagong University, said, "The owners of the battery-recycling factories are not only polluting the environment but also violating human rights, as they have engaged children in their factories for dismantling batteries."
Prof AKM Shajahan Kabir of Chemistry Department at the same university said that sulfuric acid was being used in making batteries and the workers cannot reuse the acid when they recycle the batteries.
He alleged that the recycling factories have indiscriminately been disposing extracts of the old batteries and toxic substances in drains, canals or even in water reserves in rural or urban areas, exposing public health to chemical toxicity apart from endangering aquatic bodies.
"As they cannot reuse the acid, they dump it in cannels or water bodies what is very hazardous for public health as well as other animals," he added.
The experts urged the government agencies, particularly the DoE, to give more attention to scrapping and recycling factories of old lead-acid batteries in the port city as this had been a great public health concern.
The survey, conducted by Human Development Society, a leading voluntary organisation of Chittagoan, said nearly 1000 recycling factories of the old lead-acid power cells had sprung up in the city and its suburban areas, some of those in even residential areas.
Kapashgola, Bakolia, Madar Bari, Agrabad, Muradpur, Mazirgath, Oxygen, Pahartali, Bhatiari, City Gate and Hamiar Char are among the places where battery-recycling factories are expanding in all diversities.
A section of greedy people are engaged in the old lead-acid batteries dismantling without approval from the Department of Environment (DoE), employing a large number of workers, mostly children, in the hazardous job.
In most cases, the juvenile workers were directly exposed to acid and lead poisoning, and other forms of chemical toxicity because of the unsafe working environment and lack of required safety precautions, the researchers said.
They said that the nation might have to pay a very high price in near future in tackling the health hazards being posed by the chemical toxicity if necessary attention with appropriate remedial approach was not given immediately.
Abul Kalam Azad, a teacher of Communication and Journalism at Chittagong University, said, "The owners of the battery-recycling factories are not only polluting the environment but also violating human rights, as they have engaged children in their factories for dismantling batteries."
Prof AKM Shajahan Kabir of Chemistry Department at the same university said that sulfuric acid was being used in making batteries and the workers cannot reuse the acid when they recycle the batteries.
He alleged that the recycling factories have indiscriminately been disposing extracts of the old batteries and toxic substances in drains, canals or even in water reserves in rural or urban areas, exposing public health to chemical toxicity apart from endangering aquatic bodies.
"As they cannot reuse the acid, they dump it in cannels or water bodies what is very hazardous for public health as well as other animals," he added.
The experts urged the government agencies, particularly the DoE, to give more attention to scrapping and recycling factories of old lead-acid batteries in the port city as this had been a great public health concern.