Environmentalists in Bangladesh have urged the government to take necessary measures to stop the use of tannery waste in poultry feed to avoid health hazards.
They made the call while addressing a roundtable on ‘Preparing poultry feeds by poisonous tannery waste: Impact on public health’ organised by the Poribesh Bachao Andolon (POBA) at its office.
Over 250 chemicals like zinc, cadmium, chromium and arsenic are used for leather processing and are in turn being used to prepare poultry feed. Those chemicals are passed into the chicken body and eggs, they argued. People consuming those chicken and eggs are suffering from different complex diseases like cancer while children suffer from mental disabilities, they added.
Immediate measures should be taken to stop preparing poultry feed using poisonous tannery waste, said the speakers.
Source: The Daily Star