Action in July

The July page of the 2022 ACRATH Calendar alerts us to the fact that products we use are tainted by slavery.

If you use cosmetics or drive cars that have a sparkle in the paint job, the chances are that the sparkle came from the mineral, mica. Mining mica is dangerous for adults and can be fatal for children.

Jharkhand state, India, is one of the world’s largest mica producers with an economy in which thousands of families are dependent on mining mica – even though it’s illegal. The average worker can expect to make no more than $US1.50 per day. Workers manually sift through sand to find scraps of mica and enter unstable mines that could collapse at any moment. Without any protective gear – not even proper footwear – inhaling dust from the mica mines causes long-term health issues and lung damage.

COVID-19 has further exacerbated the already desperate situation for mica-dependent communities. A report in 2021 found that more people were being pushed into mining mica due to COVID-19 forcing other industries like hospitality to shut down.

Click here to find out more about mica mining and what you can do.