Pretty Ugly

Glass bangles catch the light in dazzling colours and tinkle with their own music as they slide up and down the arms stopping at the wrists.

There is an ugly side to the beautiful bangle industry which employs many children. Not only are workers paid very little but the children even less, and the continued exposure to chemicals, heat and glass used in the bangle industry seriously impacts the workers' health and creates serious, long term medical disorders.

The town of Firozabad in the state of Uttar Pradesh is famous for its glass bangles and 90% of its population works in this industry.

Dr Surinder Pal Singh, a doctor who has worked in Firozabad for more than 30 years says that nearly all the patients who have tuberculosis and other serious chest and lungs medical disorders are employed in bangle making. Other common conditions Dr Singh sees in this industry's workers are skin burns, allergies and a decline in vision.