Mercury contamination a new threat for Bangladesh
The findings of the first-ever study on the level of mercury pollution in Bangladesh are alarming, to say the least. The one-year-long study, done by the Department of Environment (DoE), has found dangerous levels of mercury in both our air and water. According to it, the total mercury release in Bangladesh is approximately 32,660 kg per year, and 44 percent of the amount comes from waste incineration. What is more frightening is that, in the absence of a proper disposal mechanism, this heavy metal, found in thermometers, makeup items such as mascara and skin whitening creams, and used as a regular dental amalgam, has made its way into our food items.
Apparently, people hardly have any idea as to how to properly dispose of materials such as CFL bulbs, tube lights, switches, paints, medical wastes, etc., which release mercury into both air and water. How would people know when there is, in fact, no disposal mechanism in place?
Mercury can have a wide range of adverse effects on human health, including permanent damage to the nervous system. Children, especially the newborns, and pregnant women are most at risk of being exposed to this heavy metal. And as the World Health Organization has put it, there is no safe level of mercury exposure and everyone is at risk when mercury is released without safeguards.
Under the circumstances, the government needs to formulate specific guidelines regarding the management of mercury in products. It needs to check uncontrolled dumping of medical, industrial, and electronic wastes into the waters and soil as well as uncontrolled coal burning in brick kilns. Being a signatory to the Minamata Convention on Mercury, Bangladesh has some obligations to fulfil. It needs to ban some mercury products and phase out others by 2020. Most of all, the government needs to have a proper disposal mechanism in place to safeguard human health and environment from the anthropogenic emissions and releases of mercury.
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