Denim production is harmful to the environment as it consists of a lot of exposure to harmful chemicals and pesticides. In an article posted by The Guardian, it states that ‘more than 270,000 Indian cotton farmers have killed themselves since 1995 and contributing factors may be the high price of genetically modified seeds flooding the market which is piling pressure on poorly paid growers, forcing many into a cycle of unmanageable debt’ this shows that the costs of the genetically modified seeds are too expensive to buy for farmers who are paid poorly, and due to this pressure of not being able to afford and upkeep this new demand of GM seeds; they are being affected mentally and physically through financial constraints. Cotton production is hard painstaking work which requires long hours of cleaning, seeding and hauling water to fields and each bloom must be cross pollinated by hand and then plucked. This shows how physically intense it is to grow the correct cotton for denim and due to exposure on the fields for a long time, the workers can suffer respiratory and other health problems which are caused by an overhaul of exposure to pesticides, extreme heat and physical stress. The rewards of working this hard is very minimal as most of the farmers earn barely enough to lift themselves out of poverty.
Environmental issues concerning the production of denim go further on, as shown in the ‘Rana Plaza’ incident in Savar, Bangladesh. In 2013, the collapse of the Rana Plaza building in Dhaka, Bangladesh which consisted of five garment factories killed 1,132 people and injured more than 2500. Only five months earlier to this incident, 112 workers had lost their lives to another tragic incident of being trapped inside a burning factory. These incidents gave more insight and highlighted the harsh labour conditions that the workers undergo in the factories. Workers were receiving some of the lowest wages in the world, exposure to an unsafe work environment, high incident related deaths as well as occupational diseases. Most of the factories do not meet standards required by building and construction legislation which results in deaths from fire incidents and building collapsing. The victims of the Rana Plaza incident have not received any compensation, a small number of global buyers made some payments towards the victims in the following months on a voluntary basis, however due to a lack of financial protection from the company that employs the workers, they didn’t receive any entitlement as a result of their loss and injuries.
Comments