<
https://undark.org/2023/07/19/the-vice-of-spice-confronting-lead-tainted-turmeric/>
"Before the heat of the day set in, dozens of people were already gathered
under a large banyan tree at the twice-weekly turmeric market in Ataikula,
Bangladesh. The season for harvesting turmeric was quickly coming to an end.
Those who had arrived watched from the shade as other farmers brought their
haul on motorbikes and auto rickshaws on the dirt road, their harvests to be
combined in large piles atop orange and blue tarpaulin mats. Traders would buy
however much they wanted in bulk.
Mohammad Abdullah Sheikh wandered around the market helping farmers weigh their
sacks and traders make their purchases. Over the last 30 years, he’s become
well acquainted with the space, as his turmeric processing business and trading
facilities are headquartered next door. He buys most of his turmeric from this
market and processes it to sell to larger food manufacturers and wholesalers
across the country.
For most of his turmeric trading career, Sheikh engaged in an open secret:
While processing raw turmeric to powder, he added a chemical called lead
chromate to get the tubers to glow yellow. Sheikh and the locals refer to the
compound as
peuri — and nearly all the farmers and traders at the market are
familiar with it. Lead chromate is a chemical used in paints to, for instance,
make school buses yellow, and it can enhance the radiance of turmeric roots,
making them more attractive to buyers.
For decades, Sheikh didn’t know the exact harm that peuri could cause. That
changed in the fall of 2019, when researchers from the nonprofit International
Center for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, or ICDDR,B, traveled to
Ataikula and adjacent districts in the northwest to meet with Sheikh and others
in the turmeric business. The researchers warned them that consuming lead
chromate could lead to kidney and brain damage or cause developmental delays in
children. By that point, the spice had made its way out of the country: The
problem had already gone global."
Via
What Could Go Right? September 21, 2023:
<
https://theprogressnetwork.org/gen-z-wellbeing-mental-health-optimism-future/>
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
