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Ecological Burden of e-Waste in Bangladesh—an Assessment to Measure the Exposure to e-Waste and Associated Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study
BACKGROUND: e-Waste is a rapidly growing waste stream worldwide, and Bangladesh is a hub of e-waste handling. Informal e-waste recycling operations involve crude methods for dismantling, repairing, sorting, and recycling electronic goods with bare hands and without personal health protections. Direc...
Autores principales: | , , , , , , , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
JMIR Publications
2022
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9428780/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35972788 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/38201 |
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author | Parvez, Sarker Masud Hasan, Shaikh Sharif Knibbs, Luke D Jahan, Farjana Rahman, Mahbubur Raqib, Rubhana Islam, Nafisa Aich, Nirupam Moniruzzaman, Mohammad Islam, Zahir Fujimura, Masatake Sly, Peter D |
author_facet | Parvez, Sarker Masud Hasan, Shaikh Sharif Knibbs, Luke D Jahan, Farjana Rahman, Mahbubur Raqib, Rubhana Islam, Nafisa Aich, Nirupam Moniruzzaman, Mohammad Islam, Zahir Fujimura, Masatake Sly, Peter D |
author_sort | Parvez, Sarker Masud |
collection | PubMed |
description | BACKGROUND: e-Waste is a rapidly growing waste stream worldwide, and Bangladesh is a hub of e-waste handling. Informal e-waste recycling operations involve crude methods for dismantling, repairing, sorting, and recycling electronic goods with bare hands and without personal health protections. Direct inhalation or dermal exposure to toxicants during informal recycling is common. Evidence suggests that e-waste–derived toxicants pollute the terrestrial ecosystem and have been linked with adverse health effects. However, e-waste recycling–related occupational health hazards have not been adequately explored in the context of Bangladesh. OBJECTIVE: Our study aims to expand the current understanding of exposure to e-waste. This study will measure the metal concentrations in biological and environmental samples and evaluate the relationship between heavy metals and the biochemical systems of the e-waste workers. METHODS: The study uses a cross-sectional study design consisting of an exposed site and a nonexposed control site. The trained team collected information on individual exposures, detailed work and medical history, and biological samples (blood, urine, and hair) from each subject. This study will measure heavy metal levels (lead, cadmium, and mercury) and biochemical parameters (hematological, hormonal, renal, and others) from the biological samples with reported physical function as outcomes of interest. In addition, we also collected soil and dust samples from both exposed and nonexposed control sites to measure the health risk. All the environmental samples will be analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer to determine metal concentrations. We will also conduct a qualitative investigation for a deeper understanding of the e-waste management system in Bangladesh. RESULTS: The protocol has been approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, and The University of Queensland’s Human Behavioral Ethics Committee. Informed written consent was obtained from all participants. We recruited 199 workers from the e-waste sites with at least 5 years of exposure and 104 control subjects with no industrial or e-waste exposure. Sample analysis is estimated to be completed in 2022. CONCLUSIONS: Although many studies have identified potential adverse health outcomes from exposure to e-waste, there is a lack of published epidemiological research in Bangladesh. Research in this field is particularly pressing in the context of the current e-waste trend and the need to deepen the understanding of exposures and outcomes. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/38201 |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-9428780 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2022 |
publisher | JMIR Publications |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-94287802022-09-01 Ecological Burden of e-Waste in Bangladesh—an Assessment to Measure the Exposure to e-Waste and Associated Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study Parvez, Sarker Masud Hasan, Shaikh Sharif Knibbs, Luke D Jahan, Farjana Rahman, Mahbubur Raqib, Rubhana Islam, Nafisa Aich, Nirupam Moniruzzaman, Mohammad Islam, Zahir Fujimura, Masatake Sly, Peter D JMIR Res Protoc Protocol BACKGROUND: e-Waste is a rapidly growing waste stream worldwide, and Bangladesh is a hub of e-waste handling. Informal e-waste recycling operations involve crude methods for dismantling, repairing, sorting, and recycling electronic goods with bare hands and without personal health protections. Direct inhalation or dermal exposure to toxicants during informal recycling is common. Evidence suggests that e-waste–derived toxicants pollute the terrestrial ecosystem and have been linked with adverse health effects. However, e-waste recycling–related occupational health hazards have not been adequately explored in the context of Bangladesh. OBJECTIVE: Our study aims to expand the current understanding of exposure to e-waste. This study will measure the metal concentrations in biological and environmental samples and evaluate the relationship between heavy metals and the biochemical systems of the e-waste workers. METHODS: The study uses a cross-sectional study design consisting of an exposed site and a nonexposed control site. The trained team collected information on individual exposures, detailed work and medical history, and biological samples (blood, urine, and hair) from each subject. This study will measure heavy metal levels (lead, cadmium, and mercury) and biochemical parameters (hematological, hormonal, renal, and others) from the biological samples with reported physical function as outcomes of interest. In addition, we also collected soil and dust samples from both exposed and nonexposed control sites to measure the health risk. All the environmental samples will be analyzed using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer to determine metal concentrations. We will also conduct a qualitative investigation for a deeper understanding of the e-waste management system in Bangladesh. RESULTS: The protocol has been approved by the Institutional Review Boards of the International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, and The University of Queensland’s Human Behavioral Ethics Committee. Informed written consent was obtained from all participants. We recruited 199 workers from the e-waste sites with at least 5 years of exposure and 104 control subjects with no industrial or e-waste exposure. Sample analysis is estimated to be completed in 2022. CONCLUSIONS: Although many studies have identified potential adverse health outcomes from exposure to e-waste, there is a lack of published epidemiological research in Bangladesh. Research in this field is particularly pressing in the context of the current e-waste trend and the need to deepen the understanding of exposures and outcomes. INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): DERR1-10.2196/38201 JMIR Publications 2022-08-16 /pmc/articles/PMC9428780/ /pubmed/35972788 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/38201 Text en ©Sarker Masud Parvez, Shaikh Sharif Hasan, Luke D Knibbs, Farjana Jahan, Mahbubur Rahman, Rubhana Raqib, Nafisa Islam, Nirupam Aich, Mohammad Moniruzzaman, Zahir Islam, Masatake Fujimura, Peter D Sly. Originally published in JMIR Research Protocols (https://www.researchprotocols.org), 16.08.2022. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in JMIR Research Protocols, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on https://www.researchprotocols.org, as well as this copyright and license information must be included. |
spellingShingle | Protocol Parvez, Sarker Masud Hasan, Shaikh Sharif Knibbs, Luke D Jahan, Farjana Rahman, Mahbubur Raqib, Rubhana Islam, Nafisa Aich, Nirupam Moniruzzaman, Mohammad Islam, Zahir Fujimura, Masatake Sly, Peter D Ecological Burden of e-Waste in Bangladesh—an Assessment to Measure the Exposure to e-Waste and Associated Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study |
title | Ecological Burden of e-Waste in Bangladesh—an Assessment to Measure the Exposure to e-Waste and Associated Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study |
title_full | Ecological Burden of e-Waste in Bangladesh—an Assessment to Measure the Exposure to e-Waste and Associated Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study |
title_fullStr | Ecological Burden of e-Waste in Bangladesh—an Assessment to Measure the Exposure to e-Waste and Associated Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study |
title_full_unstemmed | Ecological Burden of e-Waste in Bangladesh—an Assessment to Measure the Exposure to e-Waste and Associated Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study |
title_short | Ecological Burden of e-Waste in Bangladesh—an Assessment to Measure the Exposure to e-Waste and Associated Health Outcomes: Protocol for a Cross-sectional Study |
title_sort | ecological burden of e-waste in bangladesh—an assessment to measure the exposure to e-waste and associated health outcomes: protocol for a cross-sectional study |
topic | Protocol |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9428780/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35972788 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/38201 |
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