Md Mahabub Alam :
About 200 companies have sprung up on both sides of the Embankment Road in city’s Hazaribagh area. They produce poultry feed using tannery waste mixed with toxic chemicals exposing people to serious health hazards.
“It would be very harmful to public health if animal waste is widely used as raw material for poultry feed without proper treatment,” an official of the Directorate of Livestock said.
A source at Eastern Feeds Mills which has been producing poultry feed said that the factory produces feed from bones and animal waste generated by Hazaribagh tanneries.
Some employees of the company talking to this correspondent at the
factory site said tannery waste is purchased on yearly contract basis.
Poultry feed made from animal waste without proper sterilisation may contain bacteria, aflatoxin and other elements detrimental to poultry, said a source at Bangladesh Poultry Industries Association requesting anonymity.
“We are not aware of any such poultry feed industries in the country,” said the source, who insisted not to be identified. “Our country does not have the kind of sophisticated and high-tech sterilisation mechanism required for making the feed bacteria-free and safe.”
Reba and Sokhina Begum working for drying the boiled tannery waste at Eastern Feed Company told The New Nation that they had to work from 8:am to 6:00 PM on daily wage of Tk 200. ” We sometimes feel respiratory problems as we work with the waste for long hours”.
On condition of anonymity, two workers, who used to boil the waste, said they use eight to 10 KGs acid for boiling one ton waste. They showed burn injuries on their hands caused from acid.
Dr. Wahid Karim of Medicine Department of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital-2 said, the acid, which is used to boil tannery waste, remains with the materials, even after boiling. “Poultry and fish raised using such feed may be harmful for human health.”
Mohammad Abdur Razzak, a leader of Poultry and Fish Feed Production Samity said about three thousand workers are employed in the sector. Proper attention should be given to the welfare of the workers, he said.
The Bangladesh Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (BCSIR) in a test conducted earlier had found existence of heavy metals in poultry and fish feed.
The BCSIR also found lead in poultry feed at harmful levels. About two dozens of chemicals are applied to process leather.
The tannery wastes used for producing poultry and fish feed, therefore, turn into toxic substance, the test revealed.
On July 11, 2011 the High Court in a verdict asked the government to stop the use of tannery wastes in producing poultry and fish feed within a month. The High Court had also directed the government to close down all those factories engaged in such practice.
