Uranium Contamination is the cause of cancer in Punjab, not pesticides.

Medical Research / Investigations says, Uranium Contamination is the cause of cancer in Punjab, not pesticides.

Why Facts are ignored and Myths are shared?

By:

Vijay Sardana

As a consumer, I am always concerned why there is always much negative news about food and cancer in India that too from one region only. I started exploring the facts to understand the facts. It was very interesting to note that there is a systematic campaign to defame Indian agriculture and hurt the farmer's interest in the globally competitive industry and to defame Indian agri-input industry.

Please keep in mind – no one is a saint in this world, not even 5 star NGOs. They also need funds to survive and to meet their expensive needs. People distort facts and go the extra-mile to fulfil their vested interest. NGOs are no exceptions, they are also manage by average human beings, not saints.

Let me share some of the facts for you to evaluate the factual position:

As early as 1995, Guru Nanak Dev University (GNDU) released a report, showing the presence of uranium and other heavy metals beyond permissible limits in water samples collected from Bathinda and Amritsar district, however, there was no response from the government at that time. The hotspot for this increased toxicity, however, was the Malwa region of Punjab, which showed extremely high levels of chemical, biological and radioactive toxicity, including uranium contamination. Please note there is no mention of pesticide application in these reports.

As the region's groundwater and food chain was gradually contaminated by industrial effluents flowing into freshwater sources used both for irrigation and drinking purposes, the region showed a rise in neurological diseases, and a sharp increase in cancer cases and kidney ailments, for example in Muktsar district between 2001 and 2009, 1,074 people died of cancer.

In March 2009, Uranium poisoning in Punjab, first made news when a South African Board Certified Candidate Clinical Metal Toxicologist, Carin Smit, visiting Faridkot city in Punjab, India, instrumental in having hair and urine samples taken (2008/09) of 149/53 children respectively, who were affected with birth abnormalities including physical deformities, neurological and mental disorders. These samples were shipped to Microtrace Mineral Lab, Germany.

Some Dangerous Facts:

1.    At the onset of the action research project, it was expected that heavy metal toxicity might be implicated as reasons why these children were so badly affected. Surprisingly, high levels of uranium were found in 88% of the samples, and in the case of one child, the levels were more than 60 times the maximum safe limit.

2.    A study, carried out amongst mentally retarded children in the Malwa region of Punjab, revealed 87% of children below 12 years and 82% beyond that age having uranium levels high enough to cause diseases, also uranium levels in samples of three kids from Kotkapura and Faridkot were 62, 44 and 27 times higher than normal.

3.    Subsequently, the Baba Farid Centre for Special Children, Faridkot, sent samples of five children from the worst-affected village, Teja Rohela, near Fazilka, which has over 100 children which are congenitally mentally and physically challenged, to the same lab.

4.    Over the years, a case of slow poisoning was suspected by health workers of the Baba Farid Center For Special Children (BFCSC) in Bathinda and Faridkot, when they saw a sharp increase in the number of severely handicapped children, birth defects like hydrocephaly, microcephaly, cerebral palsy, Down's syndrome and other physical and mental abnormalities, and cancers in children.

5.    Since 2009, Micro Trace Minerals of Germany has continued testing cancer patients, living in the Malwa Region of Punjab, the area known for having the highest cancer rate in India. Patient evaluation and the collection of nail samples was carried out with the help of Prof. Chander Parkash of the Technical University of Punjab. As with previous studies, high uranium was found in nearly all test persons. The work was published in the British Journal of Medicine and Medical Research in 2015.

6.    Subsequent tests, carried out on the groundwater displayed levels of uranium as high as 224 micrograms per litre (µg/l). However, samples taken in the vicinity of the around the coal-fired power plants were up to 15 times above the World Health Organisation's maximum safe limits. It was found that the contamination included a large part of the state of Punjab, home to 24 million people.

7.    In 2010, water samples taken from Buddha Nullah, a highly polluted water canal, which merges into the Sutlej River, showed heavy metal content as quite high and the presence of uranium 1½ times the reference range.

8.    An investigation carried out The Observer newspaper, in 2009, revealed the possible that cause of contamination of soil and groundwater in Malwa region of Punjab, to be the fly ash from coal burnt at thermal power plants, which contains high levels of uranium and ash as the region has state's two biggest coal-fired power stations.

9.    Tests on groundwater carried out by Dr Chander Parkash, a wetland ecologist and Dr Surinder Singh, also at Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, found the highest average concentration of uranium 56.95 µg/l, in the town of Bhucho Mandi in Bathinda district, a short distance from the ash pond of Lehra Mohabat thermal power plant. At village Jai Singh Wala, close to the Bathinda ash pond, similar test results showed an average level of 52.79 µg/l.

In the last years, more and more researchers came to the conclusion that geological causes are the main source of the uranium contamination in Punjab, as it is long known that in the underlying Siwalik sediments uranium enrichments occur.

Why facts were suppressed?

News of these findings sparked a controversy in the media, as the Government of Punjab in April 2009, ordered a probe into the matter, and a series of tests with the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Trombay were conducted. It was later stated, "..there is no side-effect of uranium and they have studied in the hair parts and the levels are very much below the levels. So that can't cause any mental retardation or any abnormality, " ...The government attributed the abnormalities to genetic disorders. The local media, however, blamed the government for the absence of proper norms to monitor the environmental impact of ash ponds, and lack of proper study of the prevalent uranium contamination in the region.

It is very sad that the attack on Pesticide is used as part of the cover-up agenda and ignorant NGOs spreading misleading information and diverting attention from the source of the problem.

It is well known it is difficult to remove the contamination of radioactive material like uranium from soil and water. In order to please the people and to divert the attention, pesticides and green revolution were blamed for cancer cases in Punjab.

The fact is most of the pesticides are approved after great scrutiny but it raised serious doubt in my mind that how come a product which is approved after so much scrutiny can become a source of the problem suddenly.

Unfortunately ignorant media was fed by ignorant NGOs about the facts and it was also suiting the government agenda to cover-up the uranium toxicity. Organisations like Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is again failed and displayed their incompetency and unable to even discover the facts. FSSAI is not even bothered to investigate the uranium contamination in food and water in Punjab.

How situation is exploited for commercial gains?

The sad part is the problem persists and NGOs and Media keeps spreading myths either due to ignorance or with ulterior motives. This confusion suits the policymakers because no one is asking them what they are doing to remove or minimise the impact of uranium toxicity.

Moreover, low cost generic pesticides are targeted in this blame game, so that expensive patented 100% imported and made outside India agro-chemicals can be introduces by banning generic agro-chemicals. Our Courts and policy makers are not keen to go into details to identify the facts. This is sad but true that our decision makers, some times even Courts, are keen to  play to the gallery and media headlines and seek have quick-fix solutions and ignore the facts and hurt the society more by hiding the cause of the problem.

So, the fact is, Uranium Contamination is the cause of cancer in Punjab, not pesticides which are approved by Agriculture University and Authorities faster rigorous trials and testings. Go into facts before taking random decisions.

Question is: When our society will learn from the facts and will ask hard questions so that such matters can be addressed at the earliest and public health issues can be handled more effectively?