Mushrooms are killing workers in Assam's tea gardens. Here's why

In Assam, a familiar nightmare keeps repeating itself – of tea garden workers dying or falling seriously ill after consuming wild and poisonous mushrooms. Let’s take a closer look at why this is happening, when it happened last and what’s being done about it: Why is this happening? As per BBC, such cases routinely hit the headlines in northern Assam and neighbouring states where locals scour for wild mushrooms – a delicacy in some parts – sometimes consumed as a soup and with vegetables. Most of the deaths – the victims are usually poor labourers – occur in March and April when the state’s tea gardens are filled with hundreds of mushrooms, as per the report. Experts say it is difficult to distinguish edible mushrooms from the toxic variety and that consuming wild mushrooms can lead to harmful outcomes ranging from gastrointestinal discomfort to death. When did this happen last? As recently as April, 13 people died including a child and four fell seriously ill in four districts of Upper Assam, a health official told Hindustan Times. The health official told the newspaper the patients, most of them from the tea-garden community, came from the Tinsukia, Charaideo, Sivasagar and Dibrugarh districts. All of them consumed the mushrooms separately and were admitted after experiencing serve reactions, AMCH superintendent Dr Prasanta Dihingia said. Dhingia added that most of the deaths were due to liver and kidney failure. “After the rains, a lot of wild mushrooms grow in several places and people who are unable to distinguish between the edible and poisonous ones, consume them,” he added. “Most of the victims are uneducated or semi-literate. There is a need for NGOs and other organisations to spread awareness on this issue to prevent such deaths,” Dihingia said. ‘Can’t believe it can lead to death’ “I can’t believe mushroom consumption can lead to death,” Anjali Kharia, the mother of a victim, told Scroll. She added that they had been plucking mushrooms from the tea gardens and consuming them for years. “If we knew about the dangers of eating wild mushrooms, that people could die, we would never have eaten them,” she added. But this is hardly a new phenomenon. According to Dihingia,  such cases regularly crop up around this time every year. Indeed in 2019 two people died and five fell ill in Sivasagar district’s Demow  after consuming wild mushrooms. Scroll reported that 20 people died after consuming poisonous mushrooms in 2008 after which the state government formed a panel to investigate the matter. Back then too most victims were tea garden workers, Kumar Sarma, a scientist at the Assam Agricultural University and one of the members of the panel, told Scroll. What’s being done about it? The Telegraph quoted tea planter and social activist Robin Moran of Tinsukia district as saying: “There is an urgent need to create awareness in all 803 gardens across Assam about the danger of consumption of wild mushroom.” “Tea garden workers hardly get time to go to market to purchase green vegetables since they work in the estates from morning till evening. While returning, they pluck wild mushrooms, available in abundance from March to October, in the gardens. Once cooked, wild mushrooms taste like meat which they cannot afford to buy. Since tea garden workers are illiterate, they are unaware of the dangerous properties of these mushrooms,” Moran added. Thankfully, it seems that steps are being taken. The Association of Physicians of India (API), Dibrugarh chapter, is slated to hold an awareness programme on mushrooms in tea garden areas of Dibrugarh within a month, The Sentinal reported. With inputs from agencies Read all the  Latest News ,  Trending News ,  Cricket News ,  Bollywood News , India News  and  Entertainment News  here. Follow us on  Facebook,  Twitter and  Instagram.