Youth rally for a toxic free future: Call for “Stop poisonous chemicals in Home”

“A lot of chemicals are causing serious harm to human, the environment and animal and not enough is known about their long term impact. As like Lead in Paint and Mercury in Dental Amalgam. We need to think and stop these now” .

Yesterday on September 27^th, Youth and children took part in a rally on the streets of Satmasjid Road of Dhanmondi, Dhaka; calling for a toxic free future and a healthy Bangladesh. Environment and Social Development Organization-ESDO with the green club members organized the rally; as part of “Green Youth Citizens project” to raise public awareness and media campaign.

“Afsin Adan, 16 years old, took part in the rally. As she expresses her views, “It was a great experience. We were up until 11pm on Friday night working together to make banners. I want to stop the use of lead in paints and mercury in dentistry. It is harmful to our health and I now know there are alternative products we can use. So why are we using toxic substances in paint and dentistry? Today we are raising our voice on the street to warn people about the harm of mercury and lead and to call for them to be banned. Not many people are aware of these issues, yet paint is in the homes of every family and many people have fillings in their teeth.”

Hazardous chemicals are increasingly being used in Bangladesh as industry grows. They are released into the environment during the manufacturing process or during consumer use. They end up in the air, soil and waterways and are absorbed or ingested by humans and wildlife. They can interfere with hormone systems leading to reproductive problems in both men and women and can even cause cancer.

“Why would we want that for our children?” Said Dr. ShahriarHossain, Secretary General of Environment and Social Development Organization, who helped the youth coordinate the rally. “We will continue to support young people as they make a stand for their healthy future.”

The youth are planning more events next month, particularly during the global week of action to eliminate lead in paint (GAELP week) starting October 23rd.

Posted by admin on Sep 28 2014. Filed under News at Now. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry