How would you like to handle acid with your bare hands? For many in Bangladesh, this is their only option

There is a dark side in the growing labor sector of Bangladesh, one that makes workers look decades older than they are.

LOS ANGELES, CA (Catholic Online) - Sharif Hossain is just one of the workers affected. The 35-year-old has worked in the city of Old Dhaka's chemical warehouses for more than 10 years, but the years of handling dangerous chemicals has taken its toll.

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Hossain handles liquid and solid chemicals six days a week without protective gear. Some chemicals like sodium, dye and soda don't seem so dangerous, but chemicals like sulfuric acid can be incredibly deadly.

For this dangerous work, Hossain makes about $77 a month, roughly twice what he used to bring in as a day laborer.

"Two or three times a year I suffer from respiratory problems including coughing and asthma and it takes two to three weeks to get well. Each time I have to spend 1,000 to 1,200 taka (about $12-$15) but my employer never pays for my treatment," he said.

Workers at warehouses handling chemicals have repeatedly requested protective gear like masks or gloves, but they're constantly denied.

"The doctor told me that I caught this disease [asthma] from the job and advised me not to do heavy work," he said. "But I have to work as I have to look after my elderly parents, wife and two children. I don't have an option because I don't have other job skills."   

Hossain is just one amongst the tens of thousands of laborers who work in the incredibly dangerous chemical industry. Every month, roughly 21 workers die, and hundreds more fall sick.

Bangladesh has a large leather, chemical, ship-breaking and agricultural sectors because it does not restrict or ban any hazardous chemicals.

The Bangladesh Occupational Safety, Health and Environment Foundation (OSHE), a Dhaka-based labor advocacy group, reports that these chemical using sectors employ about 50% of the nation's 160 million people.

"Use of dangerous chemicals without any protection has become very common in Bangladesh. Every year hundreds of people die but no one seems to care," said Repon Chowdhury, executive director of OSHE.

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