Dangerous Jobs!!

On the BBC website today their "in focus" story tells of communities that mine sulphur for a living, with the headline; " Fire and Brimstone; Is mining Sulphur in a Volcano the worlds most dangerous job?" The story talks of the "Traditional" sulphur miners of East Java, with their skin "criss-crossed with burns" and their "Poisoned lungs" Really painting a picture of horror (I wonder how many people realise that you need sulphur to refine sugar and are reading this feature saying what an atrocity it is that they work like this??). We are even told that the BBC's camera broke down while filming in the area from the corrosive gasses... But there have only been 74 deaths in 40 years, to me that sounds like good odds. I wonder how many police or fire officers have died in the last 40 years? And they have health and safety laws and personal protective equipment. A small paragraph at the bottom does inform us that this type of sulphur mining was a common practice in many countries, including Italy and New Zealand, until the late 19th century. So rather than telling of the horrors these people face on a day to day basis, maybe we should be applauding them? They are still mining in the traditional way. And BBC instead of trying to make everyone feel sorry for them, run a campaign to teach them about personal safety, perhaps supply them with cheap or even free personal protective equipment? Because the miners aren't going to stop working, as one quotes "I do this to feed my wife and family, No other job pays this well"

GF