a new study is yet another proof of the fact that an environmental apocalypse can have wide-ranging impacts. Researchers studying the population living near central Asia's shrinking Aral Sea have found that the residents exhibit a high level of dna damage, which is linked with the region's alarmingly cancer rates.
The salty Aral Sea -- once the world's fourth largest inland body of water -- has been shrinking fast. It could vanish by 2020. Excessive withdrawal of the seawater for cotton crop cultivation has led to the crisis. Today, most of the sea is transformed into a vast stretch of desert, laden with salt and a toxic mix of chemical residues washed down over the decades from the farms upstream. These salts and poisonous chemicals are now easily leaching into the environs and entering the human foodchain, thereby causing numerous ailments. Most alarming is the rate of the cancer of the oesophagus. Up to 80 per cent of cancer victims in the region suffer from this form of the disease. For years, the cause has been suspected to be the intensive use of pesticides and herbicides. The research is the first scientific substantiation of the conjecture.
Spencer Wells of the National Geographic Society studied dna samples of the local population and found widespread genetic damage. He focussed on the level of a marker known as 8-ohdg. It showed rates of damage 3.5 times higher than those seen in samples from the us. According to Wells, the implications of the findings are alarming. "Due to dna damage, not only is the present generation at risk, but their children are susceptible too," he explains.
The government of Uzbekistan denies it has a major healthcare problem on its hands. The worst affected region falls in the province of Karakalpakstan. The region's deputy health minister Atajan Hamraev admitted there are problems but when asked by the British Broadcasting Corporation whether it was wise to continue growing cotton, his response was defiant: "Cotton is Uzbekistan's biggest export earner. Curbing its cultivation would leave stomachs empty. There is no alternative."