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A Tannery Worker Poisoned by Toxic Chemicals (Extra Scene from 'Toxic Tanneries')

In this extra scene, VICE News correspondent Tania Rashid meets 17-year-old tannery worker Mohammad Rahman, who has developed a series of health problems from working in the leather industry in Bangladesh.

Bangladesh's leather industry is worth a billion dollars a year, but that value comes at a significant human cost to the many workers employed in the country's leather tanneries. The process of tanning leather hides is highly toxic. Workers face appalling conditions and are exposed to dangerous chemicals that also pollute surrounding waterways.

VICE News traveled to Dhaka, Bangladesh's capital, and visited the tannery district in the city's Hazaribagh neighborhood — ranked by international research organizations as one of the most polluted places on Earth — to investigate the conditions in which workers produce leather that is exported and sold all over the world.

In this extra scene, VICE News correspondent Tania Rashid meets 17-year-old tannery worker Mohammad Rahman, who has developed a series of health problems from working in the leather industry his whole working life. Without adequate safety equipment provided by his employer, daily exposure to the chemicals used when treating raw leather hides have taken their toll on Mohammad's health.

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