Tea workers at cancer risk
Asbestos roofs widely used on the houses of the tea garden workers in greater Sylhet region pose high risks of cancer, said health experts and environmentalists.
The natural mineral was once lauded for its versatility, but in the mid twentieth century scientists discovered that inhalation of asbestos fibres for long can cause fatal illnesses including lung cancer.
About one lakh workers die each year from asbestos-related diseases, the International Labour Organization says.
More than 50 countries have banned or restricted the use of asbestos since early 1970s.
However, the tea workers in Sylhet region have been using asbestos for long as it was distributed by the tea garden owners.
Deaths of quite a few tea garden workers in cancer raised concerns over the use of asbestos recently.
"My father died of cancer. We have been living in houses with roofs made of asbestos," said Dilip Pashi, 27, son of Hardew Pashi, a worker of Doloi Tea Garden in Kamalganj of Moulvibazar.
Tea workers Mintu Rikmon, 20, Sajia Rabidas, 48, Boloram Rikiason, 80, Doiram Pashi, 60, and Rekha Kurmi, 45, of the same garden died of cancer in recent times. Each of them lived in houses with asbestos roofing, said Bhailal Ghor, in charge of Doloi Tea Garden Hospital.
"Mintu had chest pain and breathing problems before his death at Sylhet MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital. The doctor said Mintu died of cancer," said his father Nikhil Rikmon, 60.
In recent years around 10 people died of cancer in Doloi Tea Garden, he said.
During a visit to the area, this correspondent saw hundreds of houses with asbestos roofing.
Many of the cancer patients in the tea gardens have died but the workers hardly know what is causing the disease, said Shibnarayan Shil, president of Doloi Tea Garden unit of Bangladesh Tea Workers Union.
"Asbestos is a fibrous dust that gets released into the air. The people living close to asbestos may suffer from breathing problems and cough and at one stage, the body cells develop cancer," said Prof Dr Muzammel Haque, head of the Department of Food Engineering and Tea Technology at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology.
"We visited many tea gardens in the country for survey and found asbestos roof being used in most of the tea workers' houses," said Philip Gain, executive director of the Society for Environment and Human Development that works for tea garden workers.
Harun-ur-Rashid, former director of Project Development Unit of Bangladesh Tea Board, said the government-owned tea gardens already stopped the use of asbestos. However, there are still some houses with asbestos roofing in private tea gardens.
Safwan Chowdhury, vice-chairman of Bangladesh Cha Sangsad, an association of the tea garden owners, said, "We stopped distributing asbestos many years ago. The houses with asbestos roof were built long tome ago. The remaining asbestos roofs would be removed soon.”
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