[01] Zorawar Singh, Department of Zoology, Khalsa College, Amritsar, Punjab, India.

Thousands of workers are employed in textile industries under different job categories including dyeing, printing, finishing, cutting, weaving and spinning. The textile industry workers are exposed to a number of chemicals including dyes, solvents, optical brighteners, finishing agents and numerous types of natural and synthetic fibre dusts which affect their health. In this paper an attempt has been made to summarize the self-reported health problems among a group of textile industry workers. The current study was carried out in two textile based industries in Ludhiana city, Punjab, India. To assess the health problems prevailing among the workers, two questionnaires were developed. First questionnaire comprised of questions related to their demography and dietary habits. Second questionnaire was about the prevalence of different health problems among them. Data was subjected to statistical analyses for confounders. Textile industry workers were found to have an elevated risk to develop various health related problems including cough, cold, depression, headaches, sleep disturbances and skin allergies. Different health problems were also found to be positively correlated with duration of exposure, smoking, alcohol drinking, tobacco chewing and dietary pattern. The study showed that the textile industry workers exposed to dyes, solvents and fibre dusts are more prone to different health related problems. Textile workers should change their working methods and use proper protection equipments to minimize exposure to different chemicals.

Textile Industry Workers, Health Problems, Cough, Skin Allergies

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