More than two million female cotton pickers work in the cotton fields of Sindh and Southern Punjab and their working environment is full of poisonous pesticides. Excessive and unsafe use of these chemicals results in severe health hazards, such as skin and respiratory diseases as well as cancer. Unfortunately, the cotton growers, industrialists and the Government are indifferent or unaware of the plight of these workers.
Observing the owes of cotton pickers in the region, the Islamabad-based Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI), carried out a study where they collected blood samples of 42 cotton-pickers, which showed presence of excess amount of pesticides in blood than the normal range.
According to statistics, the cotton crop uses around 80 percent of the total pesticides consumed by Pakistan.
A source from SDPI told Fibre2fashion that cotton pickers are exposed to serious health hazards. Working in the fields for many hours daily, strains labourers' back and legs. Cuts and skin rashes of cotton-pickers further expose them to the hazards of pesticides. Picking cotton is common during pregnancy and breastfeeding, which posed additional risks to the health of women and their children.
Pakistan cotton pickers are struggling their way to earning livelihood and are simultaneously suffering from the miseries afflicted from pursuing this profession. In spite of being vulnerable to chronic pesticide poisoning, they have no other alternative but to silently bear the agony of what is destined.
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