Byssinosis in Rural Sindh

Abstract

SUMMARY One cotton mill in Karachi, and five ginning mills in MirpurKhas Sindh, were examined to determine the prevalence of byssinosis. A total of 243 workers in cotton mill and 310 workers in the ginning factories were examined. Textile Mill: The average age amongst the 243 cotton mill workers was 36 years. All were males barring 20 females, 39 were smokers some were used “Gul” a mixture of ash and tobacco. The total of 24% were symptomatic, amongst the symptomatic the percentage of smokers visit to the mill some time for weeks many workers were lost who either changed their job or left Karachi, hence only 135 of the totals completed the protocol. Amongst these 33 complained of symptoms and 3 amongst symptomatic of byssinosis majority had chronic cough with sputum 60% of these had normal pulmonary function test, while 20% had moderate fall in the function. GINNING FACTORIES: 310 workers examined 34 were excluded because of other chronic chest diseases, of the remaining 276, smokers were 42%. Nighty eight (36%) were symptomatic, 24 amongst these had typical symptoms of byssinosis. History of smoking was more prevalent amongst byssinosis (63%) compared to other symptomatic and a symptomatic. BYSSINOSIS: Amongst 24 (9%) byssinotics 15 had a history of smoking, including 5 ex-smokers on the average they had smoked 9.4 packed years. Exposure to cotton dust and fiber was 14 years amongst the smokers and 12 years amongst non-smokers. Five had normal lung function while another 5 had minimal changes, 14 showed moderate to severe changes, difference in pre- and post-shift measurement were not statistically significant. Percentage of byssinosis in this study is higher than reported by others in ginning factories with only seasonal exposure., projected percentage would be higher in cotton mills, who have higher exposure, due to continuous working all the year. It is proposed that further studies both in Punjab and Sindh should be conducted on larger scale to determine the prevalence of this disease. COTTON INDUSTRY IN PAKISTAN Cotton has bee grown in subcontinent since early times. It was introduced in Europe through Spain by the Moors. In Pakistan ever the years not only quality but quantity of cotton has improved. It is now major product of Pakistan and is extensively cultivated both in Sindh and Punjab provinces. ‘Desi’ variety with its shot and course staple has been replaced by ‘American’ variety. A lot of new varieties, more suitable to local climate have since been discovered and cultivated. Some of the popular varieties are NAIB-78, MS-84, Rehmani and Shaheen etc. NAIB-78 has been grown 50% of cotton growing area. Roughly 2.5 million hectors of land area are under cotton cultivation. Over 12.5 billion bales have been produced this year out of which 6-7 million will be exported and the rest used for ever growing cotton industries of Pakistan. There are at present two hundred cotton mills, From only 4 at the time of independence in1947. It is now the biggest industry, and the over 100,000 Workers were employed permanently and many on either temporary or contract bases. In Sindh 48 to 90 cotton textile mills are situated in Karachi over 50,000 workers are employed. Ginning mills are concentrated in cotton growing area of Tharparkar district. MirpurKhas has many such mills, both new and old existing side by side. Some of the machines are very old and dusty, a few imported ones are dust free and many falls in between. Situation of textile mills also similar, where modern machines with exhaust for removal of cotton dust and fibre, co-exist with not so efficient machine. PROCESSING OF YARN: Cotton in Pakistan is picked by hand, tied in ginning bags and delivered to the gins by trucks, where they ere weighted stored (usually in the open). Bags when required are opened and delivered to the machine for deseeding. Lint is separated and dressed into bales. In this whole process emission of dust is dependent or the quality of machine but the process by and large is very dusty. In one of the old mills, the whole atmosphere was thick with dust and fibre, compared to the others where population was not as bad. Mostly rollers and saw gins have been replaced by machinery consisting of a series of tooth ed circular saws projection between the slits in the series if metal ribs. Fibre is caught in the teeth of revolving saws, which only allow the fibre to pass through leaving the seed behind. The lint is then pressed into bales usually of 170 kg each. Low quality cotton is dustier than better varieties with longer fibre which is finer and stronger. The bales are than transported to textile mills, where the lint goes through many processes, till it is converted into yarn. The bales are opened and tightly compressed cotton is puled off in layers, then hand fed in the openers from where it is transported in trolleys to the blow room, where it is spread well by the fan to free from impurities and mixed with other varieties. This is a very dusty stages, and workers use some sort of make shift mask, usually a handkerchief or gauze. The mixed cotton is then fed into the feeder which spread the cotton further. After beating a uniform ‘lap’ is formed. The ‘lap’ is then fed into carding machines where fine trash and fibre too short for spinning are removed. The worker at this stage are exposed to a very high concentration of dust. The outcome of carding is a thin ‘fleece’ of cotton which is gather into thick, soft, untwisted rope “silver”. The carding process straightens the cotton fibers and aligns them lengthwise. The “silver” from card next passes through sequence of further stretching and length orienting process on drawing frames “slubbers” and intermediate frame. The result is “roving” a 1mm thick lint which is wound on bobbins. Roving is passed into spinning frames, where thickness is further reduced and fibers are twisted so they keep clinging together. Higher surface speeds occur during spinning, and the remaining trash and short fibre are released in the process. The same happens in the next stage i.e winding where the yarn is gathered from very small spools, is wound on the large ‘cones. This is the final step in thread making. The ‘yarn’ ids then used for weaving and manufactured of cloth.