Sandblaster jeans endanger your health

Lung diseases through killer jeans

Jeans made with sandblasters are an acute threat to workers' health. In view of the scale, an initiative calls for an immediate halt to the special manufacturing process, with thousands of workers already suffering from dangerous and chronic lung diseases.

(29.11.2010) The treatment of jeans with a sandblaster gives the clothes a modern slightly worn look. But for the workers in the manufacturing countries such as Pakistan, China, Bangladesh or Egypt, the activity with the sandblaster brings considerable health risks - thousands of workers already suffer from dangerous lung diseases.

With the growing number of illnesses, the Clean Clothes Campaign (CCC) and its allies call for a worldwide halt to denim production using sandblasting technology. Because the resulting dust attacks the lungs, causing severe scarring and can cause the incurable, often fatal lung disease silicosis. For example, in Turkey alone, 46 deaths and 1,200 cases of illness have already been reported, the CCC said. Julia Thimm emphasized on behalf of the INKOTA network e.V. and the CCC: „We demand that companies take their responsibility for the damage they have suffered and provide medical services and adequate financial compensation to sandblast victims.“

Sandblaster insert already banned in Turkey
Since 2009, the use of sandblasters in the textile industry in Turkey has already been banned because of the health risks. Until then, the country was the main producer for the sandblasted jeans. However, of the approximately 10,000 workers in the industry over the years, around half are likely to suffer from silicosis, said Yesim Yasin, a member of a Turkish relief committee in Istanbul. However, a large part of the disease is undetected so far, since the effects of the disease often manifest themselves over the course of years, explained the expert. „The full extent of the problem becomes known only with time“, stressed Yasin, because in the first years workers often have no complaints.

Since the ban in Turkey, the orders are increasingly in countries such as Pakistan, China, Bangladesh or Egypt, where often basic health and safety regulations are not met, said the experts of the CCC. As long as appropriate sandblasting processes are used in production, no jeans producer can guarantee that the safety precautions that would be necessary for a low-risk sandblasting are also met in the countries mentioned. Therefore, together with numerous international labor law initiatives, the CCC warned that thousands of workers in the respective countries would be threatened with death if they continue to need to sandblast jeans under the given conditions. In addition, the Turkish Solidarity Committee of Sandblasting Laboratories, CCC and its partner organizations have asked all denim producers to renounce the use of sandblasting and to use suitable verification mechanisms to ensure that the sandblasting process is respected throughout the entire production chain.

First companies have already responded
The first companies, such as H & M, Levis or C & A, have already responded to sandblasting problems and announced that they will abolish their production processes by the end of 2010. Lee, Wrangler and Benetton have also agreed to stop sandblasting by the end of 2011 due to public pressure. However, with regard to possible damages for the injured workers, all companies have been reluctant or even reluctant. For good reason, with tens of thousands likely to be affected, and as silicosis is not curable and often fatal, significant financial payments could be due. Numerous companies, including all luxury brands such as Armani, Prada, Versace or Dolce & Gabbana, have so far taken no position on the demands of the CCC. „The fact that some companies trade is not enough to cover the entire sector“, Wyger Wentholt said of the CCC on Saturday in Istanbul. Therefore, the Clean Clothes Campaign encourages governments to do so, „Import bans for such jeans to check“, added Wentholt. The industry also had to agree to pay for the treatment costs of already ill workers, according to another demand from the CCC.

However, with around five billion jeans produced annually around the world and cost pressures on production, it is likely that many companies will not, or only very slowly, change their production processes. Thus, the use of sandblasters to produce the „Stone-Washed“ expected not to go back as fast as hoped. Because other processes that produce the same effect on jeans, such as laser processes or chemical methods are considerably more expensive than the use of sandblasters. The most serious lung disease that can be caused by working with the sandblasters and the CCC warns is silicosis. The disease, which is actually known as Bergmann's disease, is caused by the inhalation and deposition of mineral dust, especially quartz-containing dust, in the lungs. The deposition causes the formation of nodular tissue and scarring of the lung. The consequences are shortness of breath, coughing and mucous congestion, chronic bronchitis and in the worst case death by suffocation. All garment companies are therefore called, in the CCC's view, to take moral responsibility and not to give free rein to the small subcontractors, many of whom produce in the Third World. (fp, 29.11.2010)

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Picture credits: Dieter Schütz