Summary:
The waste from leather production also causes skin and respiratory disorders in people who work in and live near tanneries. Animals used for leather in India are often crammed into vehicles in such large numbers that their bones break. One of the most widely used chemicals in the tanning process is chromium, which can cause cancer in workers exposed to it, she added. To keep the skins from rotting, tanneries use a variety of caustic, toxic chemicals, which are often dumped directly into water bodies, Radhika said. “Leather production is harmful – to the animals killed for it, the land and water bodies polluted by it, and the humans exposed to the toxic chemicals used in it..