Green youths demand stop in mercury use in consumer goods

Green youth activists demanded cutting down the widespread use of mercury in consumer products like dental amalgam, skin whitening cosmetics, batteries, thermometers, and fluorescent bulbs in Bangladesh. Environment and Social Development Organization (ESDO) in association with United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP) organized a rally incorporating more than 100 green collar workers at Dhanmondi on Saturday, says a press release. Use of mercury in daily commodities has been adversely affecting public health and environment. Several researches have confirmed the presence of mercury at dangerous level in daily commodities especially, CFL bulbs, cosmetics including fairness creams. ESDO is conducting an extensive research on several consumer products to study and analysis the country situation of mercury in Bangladesh. Simultaneously, it is raising public awareness. A baseline survey has been done in Dhaka, Rajshahi and in Chittagong simultaneously this year. Striking information has been revealed through investigating industrialists, manufacturers, retailers and consumers. Not only this, the mercury waste discharged from factories pollutes air and water, eventually finds its way to human body. Thus, mercury poisoning deserves a more serious attention from all walks of the society, especially the government. The main objectives of the project are- (1) Creating public awareness through revealing the results of the research, (2) Strengthening capacities to replace mercury-added products and (3) Ensuring an environmentally sound management of end-of-life mercury-added products in Bangladesh. Besides, organizing the rally ESDO arranged an open discussion session and showed video clippings on the facts and different concerning issues of mercury to the youth group of children. Siddika Sultana, Executive Director of ESDO, appreciated this effort of the youngsters who actively attended the program. She said, “It is the young generation of Bangladesh who can make people aware about the mercury poisoning efficiently, hence, save the environment to save next generation.” The youngsters present at the rally articulated their concerns on the wide-spread use of mercury in Bangladesh. They welcomed such initiatives of ESDO and urged the government to pay more attention into this issue, take proper and urgent steps to ban mercury consumer goods and requested everyone to go for the alternative to mercury. They offered full support in ESDO’s attempt in banning mercury globally. Since its birth, Environment and Social Development Organization- ESDO has been committed to working against toxics for a sustainable environmental and societal development for more than two decades. It has been working to reduce the mercury emission from mercury containing products into the environment through research, documentation and widespread campaigning since 2011.

Collected : http://www.newstoday.com.bd/

Posted by admin on Jul 12 2015. Filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry