Hong Kong ( CNN ) -- Ramesh Makwana knew the risks to his health by working in an agate factory , but at $ 4 a day the rewards were too great . Now , after 14 years of breathing in the fine dust created by grinding and polishing the gemstone , Makwana has silicosis , a respiratory disease that swells the lungs . `` He 's thankful to the stone because it helped him survive for so long . But now that he has lost so much , it is also a feeling of anger , '' Makwana told CNN through an interpreter , Mohit Gupta , the co-ordinator for the Occupational , Environmental Health Network of India . `` He has lost his parents to it , and he himself knows he 's going to die some day , '' he said . It 's not known how many other workers in Asia are suffering from occupational diseases , but the Asia Monitor Resource Center ( AMRC ) has warned that the region is facing an epidemic . The last estimate on work-related diseases in Asia was released by the International Labor Organization in 2008 . It estimated that more than 1.1 million people in Asia were dying each year . `` One-point-one million is a really high number , but even then we 're not sure , we think it may be a really conservative number , '' said Sanjiv Pandita , Executive Director of the AMRC . Frustrated by the lack of official records , Pandita and his team set out to find the true extent of the problem in six Asian countries : China , India , Cambodia , the Philippines , Thailand and Indonesia . A report released ahead of this year 's International Workers ' Memorial Day on April 28 , found similar problems in all countries ; a lack of official data on the number of cases , partly due to a reluctance to diagnose work-related illness for fear of the financial cost . `` The problem is there is no data , absolutely no data . You can get quarterly data for economic statistics , but you ca n't get any data about the workers ... what is their health , how are they faring ? There is no data on that , '' Pandita said . The problem is not being recognized nor addressed , Pandita said , because governments and industry in the region are prioritizing economic growth over people . `` I think it 's complete apathy from the government , from the industry and from all of us as a society . We 're just too insensitive . We think it 's OK for people to die producing things . I do n't know . I can not understand , '' he said . Wang Fengping fights back tears when asked how her life has changed since she suffered the effects of cadium poisoning after working 15 years in a battery factory in China . `` Before I found myself having the cadium poisoning I felt my life and work were quite happy . Although it was sometimes tiring , but I also found my job rewarding , I liked my job , '' she said in an interview with CNN . Wang was a relatively highly paid engineer in charge of maintaining the battery-making machines . `` After this poisoning and my kidney was badly destroyed so my body became very weak , '' she said , adding that she no longer works due to the effects of kidney failure . Wang said she has struggled to find a doctor in China willing to certify her illness as an occupational disease , a pre-condition of any claim for compensation . Pandita said in many cases employees have struggled to even prove they were employed . `` It 's coming up as a major issue , especially in China . The first thing they have to do if somebody gets sick , they have to submit their work contract . And many times they do n't have that . And employers refuse to give it . So it 's a very complicated procedure they 're made to go through , '' he said . In other cases , workers , especially migrants , are not covered by labor laws . When they get ill , they go home and for employers the problem disappears . A lack of regulation over the use of toxic materials is also exacerbating workplace illness , Pandita added . `` The problem in Asia we face is that industries still use a lot of hazardous materials and chemicals which may be banned elsewhere . Like asbestos . It 's banned in almost 80 countries worldwide . We still use it in Asia , '' he said . Non-governmental organizations are working within countries to try to warn workers of the cost , and to encourage victims to unite to try to push for compensation . In Makwana 's village of Shakarpur in the Khambat region of Gujarat , India , efforts are underway to educate workers at the agate factories , and to find them other , safer sources of income . `` The organization has been trying to rehabilitate people , find alternative employment for people , in arts and agriculture , '' Gupta said . `` But of course it does n't pay as much as this work pays , but at least they 'll still be alive for a long time . ''
Asia Monitor Resource Center releases a warning of Asian worker ' s ' Many falling ill and dying each year due to occupational disease across Asia . Executive Director Sanjiv Singh : ` ` The problem is there is no data '' In 2010 , ILO estimated that more than 1 million Asians died from occupational disease each year .