Store mængder giftigt affald fra lædergarverier i Bangladesh anvendes i kyllingefoder. Nu er der fundet krom og andre kemikalier i kyllingekød – noget som kan udgøre en sundhedsfare for millioner af mennesker.
DHAKA, 2 June 2014 (IRIN): Bangladesh’s leather tanneries are notoriously filthy, exposing workers and the surrounding neighborhood to toxic chemicals. And recent studies show that poultry feed produced from industry scraps may also be putting the health of millions throughout the country at risk.
“The whole nation is under threat as chicken is the most consumed meat, and also the cheapest source of animal protein,” said Abul Hossain, a chemistry professor at the University of Dhaka, who led recent studies on how chromium, a tannery waste product, is transported into chicken meat.
“This is extremely alarming.”
According to the Bangladesh government’s Department of Environment (DoE), tanneries in Hazaribagh, an industrial neighbourhood in Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka, emit around 21,600 cubic metres of toxic waste each day – including chromium, sulphur, ammonium, and other chemicals.
The tanneries also generate as much as 100 tonnes per day of scraps – trimmed raw hide, flesh and fat – which are processed into feed by neighborhood recycling plants and used in chicken and fish farms across the country.
Government has failed to regulate
Although the maximum recommended daily dose of chromium has not been established, a review by the European Food Safety Authority stated that a 60 kg person could tolerate up to 0.25 milligrams of chromium per day, and noted that carcinogenic chromium “hexavalent” (produced as part of the industrial process) should be kept “as low as possible” in all foods.
“We have found chromium ranging from 350 to 4,520 micrograms [0.35 to 4.52 milligrams] per kg in different organs of chickens which were fed the tannery scraps feed for two months,” said Hossain.
Cheap poultry is an important part of the diet in food insecure Bangladesh. It accounts for 75 percent of the national demand for meat and provides employment opportunities in both the formal and informal livestock sectors.
A 2012 report by the International Food Policy Research Institute argued that expanded poultry rearing makes economic sense for Bangladeshi farmers confronted by land shortages.
Poultry feed produced from tainted industry scraps is attractive to farmers because of its rich protein content – and it’s cheap. The government has failed to enforce its own regulations, although aware of the risk of these carcinogenic chemicals entering the food chain.
Hazardous Hazaribagh
Læs hele artiklen her: http://www.irinnews.org/report/100160/toxic-poultry-feed-threatens-bangladesh-s-poor
