Looking deep into leather research
S Vishnu Sharmaa, INN/Chennai, @svs037
Buddhadeb Chattopadhyay, a senior scientist from Kolkata was present in the three day 34th India International Leather Fair to deliver a lecture. Research into leather is a passion for him. I have been into leather reasearch for the last 20 years, says the veteran scientist. My team is still working, he reminds with a sense of pride. For his work is being continued. Speaking about Kolkata wetlands he says they are said to be the largest wetlands in the world spread over 12,000 hectares.
Affluents from the leather industry go through these wetlands are left in the confluence of Ganges delta (Sundarbans area). These affluents get mixed with municipal waste and travel a distance of 40 km before they are left in the confluence. We did quick research on the flora and fauna in the wetlands, we found that they did not have any toxic symptoms in them at micro and macro levels.
This was published in the popular scientific, environment and leather science journals also, he recalls. The senior scientist has certain questions to ask?
Why ban formaldehyde from leather industry? Will apple, tomatoe etc be banned which produce bio-synthetically various materials? He also asks about Cromium VI. He says it is suspected allergen and adds the present level of occurence of allergy by Cromium VI is four persons in one million in the world, on the contrary, pollen allergy is thousand times more. What is strong in him is the determination to find answers to questions that bother science. I will always strive to do that, he says.