They are also exposed to long-term health risks: from the asbestos used for insulation in older ships, and from paint containing lead, cadmium and arsenic. Workers are poorly compensated when injured, and often, in between ships, have no work and no income. Many live in squalor. According to Young Power in Social Action, an NGO campaigning on ship-breaking in Chittagong, 51% of workers are under 22 years old and 46% are illiterate. Omi says they hate the work. They do it, he says, because “there is no other way to support their families. This is their last option.” Pictured: One of the many health hazards the cutters face is to their lungs, from the gases released as they take the ships apart
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