Denim sandblasting banned, but workers’ woes continue

[FarCenter]

Although denim sandblasting, which has caused hundreds of people to contract a potentially fatal lung disease, was banned in Turkey, the workers who caught the disease are still suffering due to legal procedures.

NGOs have urged the Health Ministry to extend the term of application that gives legal rights to illegal workers and to hear the voices of legal workers whose doctors report them able to work although they are physically unable.

Silicosis, an incurable lung disease, has already caused more than 50 denim blasting workers to lose their lives. Those who were aware of the disease through their symptoms such as difficulty in breathing were luckier compared to others whose symptoms developed later as the law recognized their rights for only a limited amount of time.

http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=denim-sandblasting-banned-but-workers8217-woes-continue-2011-11-08

[mwrguy]

1. I had never even heard of denim sandblasting before

Rich people paying poor people to artificially wear out their new clothes is a sign of modern society's sickness.