Hundreds of garment workers fell ill on Sunday after drinking water of questionable quality at their workplace in Gazipur at the outskirts of Bangladesh’s capital, Dhaka.<\/p>\n
The incident occurred less than two weeks after about 800 workers fell ill and were hospitalized after drinking water at Starlight Sweaters Ltd., which produced clothes for European buyers Carrefour and Otto.<\/p>\n
The Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research in Bangladesh, which tested samples of the water after the incident at Starlight Sweaters on June 5, said they did not find anything unusual from the regular contaminants in water. The Institute\u2019s director, Dr. Mahmudur Rahman, found the case to be a result of \u201cmass psychogenic illness.\u201d <\/p>\n
The director believed the illness was a result of a panic attack that may have been triggered by factory authorities announcing that something was wrong with the water and closing work for the day.<\/p>\n
Bangladesh\u2019s garment industry, which constitutes 80 percent of the country\u2019s export revenue worth $20 billion, has been troubled with shutdowns and agitations since the collapse of a factory building in the South Asian country killed 1,129 workers in April. Rumors and incidents of illness have added further panic in the industry, with workers becoming extremely sensitive to workplace accidents.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is fear persisting among garment workers since the incident” in April, says Mushrefa Mishu, president of the Garment Workers\u2019 Unity Forum.<\/p>\n
Dr. Rahman says the recent illness of garment workers is a result of the prevalent fear. \u201cSuch illness is symptomatic mostly among teenage women,\u201d says Rahman. Women make up 80 percent of Bangladesh\u2019s garment industry workforce of 4 million.<\/p>\n
Ms. Mishu, however, says that most of Bangladesh\u2019s garment factories do not maintain minimum health safety and hygiene. \u201cThe water used in the factories is not purified,\u201d says the labor leader. Most of these workers take water from jars that are filled with pipe waters without purification.<\/p>\n