Chandigarh-based PGIMER did a study on the health of those living close to five big industrial waste drains in Punjab. The two-year study also looked into the effect of pesticides on the health of villagers. The report, submitted last month to the state's pollution control board, has some alarming findings
Evidence of genetic damage in some cases
DNA mutations in 65 % of the blood samples
Significantly high rate of miscarriages among women and slow growth in children
High concentration of heavy metals such as mercury, copper, cadmium, chromium and lead in drinking water. Evidence of these metals entering the food chain
Pesticides detected in vegetables, blood as well as human and cattle milk
Gastrointestinal, skin, eye, dental and bone problems significantly higher in these areas compared with villages not in proximity of drains Early symptoms of neurotoxicity

‘No. of cancer cases has trebled in 5 yrs’

Mahal (Amritsar district): Dr J S Thakur, probing incidence of DNA mutation in a Punjab village, cites a dangerous cocktail of pesticides and heavy metal industrial wastes. ‘‘Water, they say, gives life. But here, in this village, it just claims lives,’’ says an aging Swaran Singh, who lost one of his sons to cancer. Scientists point out that it requires a long time for groundwater to turn toxic. ‘‘A dangerous cocktail of pesticides and heavy metal industrial wastes is the cause,’’ says Dr Thakur.
   Mukhtar Singh, a 75-year-old retired headmaster in Mahal, knows this well. For the past 14 years, every morning he has been picking up two jerry cans and riding his bicycle about a kilometre away to the GNDU campus. ‘‘That’s where I get my drinking water from,’’ says Mukhtar, who helped form a pollution control committee in Amritsar.
   Part of the problem possibly dates back to the Green Revolution in the mid-60s and 70s when pesticide use became common. Didar Singh, a 65-yearold marginal farmer, recalls that in the early 60s and before, only organic manure such as cowdung was used to fertilize the fields. ‘‘Since then, the use of fertilizers has increased manifold,’’ says Didar, whose brother died of cancer. Agricultural runoff and irrigation of fields with the polluted drain water are the key reasons for the presence of pesticides in food, says the PGIMER report.
   But rapid industrialization without any attention to the possible fallouts on health is also a major factor leading to the current state of affairs. The five big effluent drains studied are Budha Nala in Ludhiana, Huddiara and Tung Dhab drains in Amritsar, Kala Singha Nala in Jalandhar and East Bein drain in Nawanshahar. The Buddha Nala receives effluents from 400 electroplating units in Ludhiana. Amritsar and Jalandhar also have units involved in electroplating, manufacturing switches and bulbs and metal industry. That, along with hospital waste, could be the cause of high mercury contamination of ground water.
   In Mahal’s elementary school, many children complain of rashes and small boils between the wedges of their fingers and hands. Class III teacher Kiranbir counts seven such children in the class. ‘‘My fingers itch badly,’’ says Shivam Sharma, a Class II student. Rohitashwa, a pharmacist at the local government dispensary, says that scabies and skin rash are common among children and women.
   Gastrointestinal, skin, eye and bone problems are significantly higher in these areas when compared with 10 villages not in proximity of these drains which were also part of the study. There’s higher prevalence of numbness of fingers and loss of fingernails or hair — early indicators of neurotoxicity. Mercury adversely affects the nervous system. Cases of ‘‘spontaneous abortions’’ among women and slow growth among children are considerably high.
   Housewife Jaswinder Kaur says her two sisters-in-law twice lost their babies due to miscarriages. ‘‘It has affected their marital lives. Now they suffer from insecurity and anxiety over whether they will ever be able to have children. They suffer in guilt,’’ she says. A few kilometres away, sitting in her office, Neera Kirpal, a senior doctor in Amritsar’s LESE Hospital, admits that miscarriages are significantly on the rise. ‘‘Many women who have lost their babies sink into depression,’’ she says.
   The PGIMER study also says that there is a shockingly high concentration of pesticides in vegetables, blood, and human and bovine milk. Mercury levels were found to be above the permissible limit in over 80% of the samples of ground water. Arsenic was detected in 70% of effluent samples, 57.7% of groundwater samples and 50% of tap-water samples. Three pesticides, heptachlor, beta-endosulphan and chloripyriphos, were found in concentration exceeding the maximum residue limit among 25%, 21.5% and 16.1% of the samples of groundwater and tapwater.
   Meena Sudan, head of oncology at Amritsar’s Sri Guru Ram Dass Rotary Cancer Hospital, says that the number of cancer cases in the hospital’s OPDs has trebled in the past five years. ‘‘Earlier we got two or three new cases every day. Now we see six to eight. This means that there are at least 50 new cases every week.’’ According to her, consumption of water contaminated heavily with metals over a long period of time is one of the major factors contributing to the increase.
   Remedial measures are likely to take time. It’s been over a month since the PGIMER report was submitted to the Punjab Pollution Control Board, which commissioned the study. Birenderjit Singh, PPCB member-secretary, says that a note has been sent to all parties concerned to convene and initiate mitigating action.‘‘“We have also sent notices to the industries concerned,’’ he says.
   On the brighter side, the Amritsar municipal body is in the process of setting up a sewage treatment plant being funded by the Japanese Bank International Consortium. The Rs 360 crore project was sanctioned last year and the treatment plant is likely to be functional by 2009. ‘‘As of now, polluted water is flowing directly into drains like Tung Dhab and Huddiara. After the treatment plant starts functioning this water will be treated and all damaging chemicals will be eliminated,’’ says Amritsar municipal commissioner D P S Kharbanda. ‘‘The treated water will then be fit for irrigation,’’ he said. Until then, the people of Mahal can only pray with numb hands.

PGIMER RECOMMENDS

Regular monitoring of water quality of drains, industry and municipal bodies Steps to ensure safe drinking water and proper disposal of sewage in affected areas Encouraging panchayats to plan, construct, manage and maintain their own water supply as being done in Gujarat Industry to treat effluents before discharging them into water bodies. Regulators should be strict Health department should establish a surveillance system to identify acute and chronic effects due to heavy metals and pesticides

Didar Singh lost his brother to cancer

Rashes and boils such as these are common among kids living in areas close to the drains

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