Health Special
New Delhi, 16 April 2009
Price Tag To Growth
CITIZENS HEALTH
GOES AWRY?
By Dr MM
Kapur
People need to be aware of the green themes in
vogue today, like sustainable development, carbon foot print, genuine
progress indicator or green growth. It guides them to resolve the dilemma
as to how to sustain the 6 billion plus population on the limited resources of
planet earth.
However, people world-over are aware that the
unlimited growth paradigm is faulted and unsustainable. The effect of this
growth pattern on our environment has been disastrous. It is visible to all in
their own surroundings and globally in global warming and climate
change. Conventional wisdom has so far not acknowledged this truism. The march
towards economic growth is in full swing and is our national goal.
It is suspected by many that this inexorable
march has led to large-scale crisis of confidence in governance, some of which
has overflowed into lack of confidence in the market and consumerism. It has
also laid bare and exposed the financial institutions to scrutiny,
revealing their overstretched resource conditions and their
failed state.
To strengthen these points, a review of the
components of our environment is necessary. It reveals the effects of
unsustainable growth and disease burden resulting as an outcome. First in
line of the review is pollution, which contaminates the external environment (air and water) and
enters the food chain (plant and animal life). The internal environment of the
human body communicates with the external environment through the respiratory
and gastro-intestinal systems. And, the contaminants in air, water and food are
absorbed and find their way into body fluids and cells.
The result is damage to: the cell membrane (the outer wall of the
cell), which slows transfer of nutrients into the cell and waste matter out of
the cell; to the enzyme systems within the cell, and slows cell function and to
the nucleus and genetic material – this may affect cell dividing or heredity in
germ cells.
Estimates are that the proportion of the global
burden of disease associated with environmental pollution hazards ranges from
23 per cent (WHO 1997) to 30 per cent (Smith, Corvalan, and Kjellstrom 1999). These
include: infections diseases related to drinking water, sanitation, and food
hygiene; respiratory diseases related to severe indoor air pollution from
biomass burning and vector-borne diseases with a major environmental component,
such as malaria.
These three types of diseases each contribute
approximately 6 per cent to the updated estimate of the global burden of
disease (WHO 2002). Outdoor air pollution (industry and fossil fuels) result
in 0.6 to 1.4 per cent of the burden in developing regions, and other
pollution, such as lead in water, air and soil, may contribute 0.9 per cent
(WHO 2002)
The major pollution of surface water is a result
of drains and sewage being discharged in our rivers. This is a major cause of
health hazards for those living up stream. Chemical pollution of surface water
can create health risks, because such waterways are often used directly as
drinking water sources or connected with shallow wells. Besides, waterways have
important roles for washing and cleaning, for fishing and fish farming, and for
recreation. Thus, all these pollutants can enter into our food chain.
Another major source of drinking water is
groundwater, which often has low concentrations of pathogens because the water
is filtered during its transit through underground layers of sand, clay, or
rocks. However, toxic chemicals such as arsenic and fluoride can be dissolved
from the soil or rock layers into groundwater. Direct contamination can also
occur from badly designed hazardous waste sites or from industrial sites (in
developing countries). There is thus an imperative need to monitor hazardous
waste disposal and protection of river and waterways.
Regrettably, no published estimates are
available on the global burden of disease resulting from water pollution. Acute
exposure to contaminants in drinking water can cause irritation or inflammation
of the eyes and nose, skin, and gastrointestinal system. However, the most
important health effects are due to chronic exposure (for example, liver
toxicity) to copper, arsenic, or chromium in water. Excretion of chemicals
through the kidney targets the kidney for toxic effects, as seen with chemicals
such as cadmium, copper, mercury, and chlorobenzene (WHO 2003)
Pesticides and other chemical contaminants that
enter waterways through agricultural runoff, storm water drains, and industrial
discharges may persist in the environment for long periods and be transported
by water or air over long distances. Pollution due to human waste has
resulted in increased water borne disease among population using raw river
water.
As
a result of global warming, the World Health Organisation has said that countries
like India
would see an increase in vector and water-borne diseases especially in the
northern region. The window of transmission for a disease like malaria would
increase by nearly three months. Emphasising on the "serious and damaging
effects" of climate change on human health, it warns: "Air quality
will suffer greatly and respiratory diseases will increase. Heat waves will be
more intense and of longer duration, mainly affecting the most vulnerable
population, the children, elderly and the poor through heat strokes and
cardiovascular complications,"
Thus,
the six health outcomes which are likely to be affected by climate change in
the region are: respiratory diseases, vector-borne diseases, water-borne
diseases, malnutrition, injuries and psychological stress. And majority of these
would be a result of changing rain patterns due to melting of glaciers and
resultant natural calamities like floods and cyclones.
Let us now look at noise pollution, which is caused by the
growing road and air transport, factories, congested business centers and
inside buildings. Its effects: A person entering a very noisy area may experience
a measurable loss in hearing sensitivity but will recover after returning to a
quiet environment; it could evoke several kinds of reflex responses, which are
part of a response pattern commonly called stress reaction. The heart, blood
vessels, intestines and endocrine glands are all organs in which noise
associated changes have been observed.
Another
concern is India’s
major programme for energy generation using nuclear plants. This programme will
install a number of high value assets in a densely-populated country. These
plants will be subject to pilferage of nuclear material, sabotage and perhaps acts
of terrorism. All three scenarios entail radiation hazards for the unsuspecting
unaware population. In addition, tritium is the fourth unavoidable hazardous
source. Nuclear power plants routinely and accidentally release tritium into
the air and water as a gas (HT) or as water (HTO or 3HOH). So far, no feasible
technology exists to filter tritium from a nuclear power plant’s gaseous and
liquid emissions to the environment.
Tritium emits radioactive beta particles. Once inhaled or
swallowed, its beta particles can bombard cells. If a particle zaps a DNA
molecule in a cell, it can cause a mutation. If it mutates a gene important to
cell function, a serious disease may result. Just as water containing ordinary
hydrogen and oxygen is a component of all living cells triturated water can
also be incorporated into the body cells. Research indicates that tritium can
remain in the human body for over 10 years.
Routine
releases and accidental spills of tritium from nuclear power plants pose a
growing health and safety concern. Exposure to tritium has been clinically
proven to cause cancer, genetic mutations and birth defects in laboratory
animals. In studies conducted by Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in 1991, a
comprehensive review of the carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic effects of
tritium exposure revealed that tritium packs 1.5 to 5 times more relative
biological effectiveness (RBE), or biological change per unit of radiation,
than gamma radiation or X-rays.
Thus,
the quest for economic growth needs to enlarge the ambit of its database. It
needs to aim for more sustainable and universal objectives and
importantly calculate the cost/benefits equation of projects impartially and
honestly bearing faith to the interest of the aam aadmi. A greater
national effort and native, scientific ingenuity is needed to limit the
cost component of this equation for greater benefit of the citizen and his
environment. --INFA
(Copyright,
India News and Feature Alliance)
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