ARSENIC MENACE

Around 10 million people in India are unknowingly consuming high levels of arsenic in their water, with many showing signs of chronic poisoning. A recent investigation showed that the ground water (wells, deep tube wells) of several parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh and Bihar contain far higher levels of arsenic than is considered safe and permissible for human consumption.

The plight of people residing in these regions came to light due to the dark spots and patches on their skins and by their rough and scaly palms and soles. People from adjacent regions could smell there was something wrong with inhabitants of some villages and declined marrying into these homes out of fear of some infection.

While the disease is not infectious, arsenosis, as it is called in medical science, is a disease that is being increasingly recognized across the world. Geographical regions with high arsenic content in ground water and human inhabitants of the regions showing a characteristic disease pattern have been reported from 30 countries.

The first reports from India came from West Bengal and adjacent parts of Bangladesh n 1986 by Prof DN Guha Mazumdar, an eminent scientist from Kolkata who drew the attention of the World Health Organization to the blight. People residing in high arsenic zones showed, apart from the characteristic skin changes, involvement of the lungs, eyes, nerves, liver and blood vessels, and suffered from anemia. Mothers from these regions had a 6-fold higher rate of still births. Further cancers occured more frquently here, especially of the throat and bladder.

Normal drinking water contains around 50 -100 ug of arsenic per litre. Levels above 200 are considered unsafe for the human body. The ground water of several villages has been found to have ten times these levels, sometimes crossing 2000 ug/L. Consumption of high levels of arsenic causes excess accummulation of this metal in different organs of the body leading to their slow damage.

Many of the affected people often drop out of work due to weakness, anemia and degeneration of nerves. Swelling of the feet and ankles is common. Involvement of the lungs causes chronic cough and breathlessness adding to their frailty.

 It is not uncommon to see people in their forties and fifties with skin patches and rough palms, languising at home, often labelled as lazy or depressed, unable to cope with strenuous work and earn their livelihhod. Their children often grow up to suffer the same fate as do their offsprings.

As long as their water is not detoxified of arsenic, the dwellers are doomed for generations, except when some children migrate to cities and inadvertently escape the scourge. Boiling water does not help in this case as there are no germs to kill by heating.

And the inhabitants can do very little by their own to save themselves and their families. Only a vigilant and caring governemnt can help with testing, identifying and detoxifying the water in these doomed regions.

As published in HT City (Hindustan Times) dated 12 February, 2012.