SC: Stop using tannery waste in animal feed

The Supreme Court has upheld a High Court verdict that asked to stop the use of toxic tannery waste to produce poultry and fish feed. A four-member Appellate Division bench led by Chief Justice Surendra Kumar Sinha passed the order rejecting an appeal on Sunday. Earlier, following a writ petition filed by Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh, the High Court On July 21, 2011 had ordered to shut down within a month the factories that were using toxic tannery waste to produce poultry and fish feed in Dhaka’s Hazaribagh. In December 2016, the appeals court rejected a leave-to-appeal petition, filed by the owner of a company named Shoyeb Enterprise, against the High Court decision. The owner Md. Golam Saruar then moved an appeal for restoration which was rejected by the appeals court on Sunday. On July 26, 2010 Human Rights and Peace for Bangladesh filed the writ petition with High Court saying that tannery waste containing around 30 types of chemicals like acid, chromium salt and sodium chloride, which is being illegally used in producing fish and poultry feed. Human tolerance to chromium is only 0.5-2mg, but chicken which consume toxic feed lay eggs that contain 100 to 1,000 times more chromium than what humans can endure. People who consume such chicken or eggs may develop cancer or other diseases related to the liver and kidney, the petition said. Earlier, traders used to import bone meal to produce feed. Meat and bone meal, a protein-rich substance, is an essential ingredient for fish and poultry feed. The practice of using tannery waste in producing fish and poultry feed was started by unscrupulous businessman as the price of imported protein has gone up over the years.