Toxic city

Living in Delhi these days is a toxic experience. The water is 'filthy. The air is foul. Everybody knows all that but nobody doesmuch. A few weeks ago, I had a chance toaddress a group of medical scientists at a localmedical college, one which serves a relativelypoorer area of the city. Speaker after speakertalked of Delhi's worsening pollution and theattendant risks, like the fire that gobbled upthe plastics wastes market in Jwalapuri.

There was much talk of cancer and howwe might witness an idemic if people didnot wake up in time. When my turn came, Iappealed to the audience that talking was notenough. They must make efforts to createpublic opinion on these issues. And nobodycan do it better than doctors. Yet for somereason they are not doing this job at all.

It is almost impossible to find any studyon the health impacts .of air pollution inDelhi. Unless the medical profession comesup with such studies, the public will just notwake up to the threat. And given the fact thatmany Indians live in poor economic andnutritional conditions, it is very importantthat we try to optimally prevent cancers thancreate conditions that lead to an epidemic,and then demand expensive curative facilities.The country cannot afford that.

I told them that our understanding of thegrowing environmental toxification remainsvery poor. Way back in the days of RajivGandhi, I had been asked by the PrimeMinister's Office to chair a committee todecide on a site for a fer-tiliser plant near theRanthambore National Park in Rajasthan'sSawai Madhopur district. The matter hadbeen hanging fire for a long time. And the Pmwas keen that a committee should take a finallook at the issue and decide.

We were told that the key question was theimpact of the fertiliser plant on the nationalpark which was nearly 20 kin away from theproposed site. But when we went there, wefound that there was a tremendous watershortage in the area. The entire effluent fromthe factory would go into a dry nullah and allthe effluents would get carried to the equallydry, sandy bed of the Banas river. A few kilo metres below was the water supply point for the Sawai Madhopur town. A number ofborewells had been dug into the river bed, andwas supplying water to the town once everytwo days. From a manual of the UnitedNations Environment Programme I learntthat the nitrogenous compounds in the effluents could torm introsamines in the environment, which are potent carcinogens. 1, therefore, had a query for my colleagues, especiallyas one of them was the director of theIndustrial Toxicological Research Centre:given the high temperatures of SawaiMadhopur, would the formation ofnitrosamines get accelerated or retarded?Nobody had an answer. Finally, we took thecautious way out and said "no" to setting up the plant.

More than 10 years ago, the Bhopal disaster caught u's napping. For days nobody knew which gas had hit the people, not to speak ofwhat treatment was required. The Jwalapurifire also caused confusion over the gases thatmay have been produced during the fire.Many poor patients had rushed to the veryhospital where 1, was speaking that day.

I said that I was speaking not just as anenvironmental activist but also as an environmental victim. While they were talking of a'possible' cancer epidemic, I have actuallybeen afflicted 71it-fi-=-extremely rare cancercalled the central nervous system and ocularlymphoma, of which there are not even 200medically recorded cases worldwide.

There is considerable confusion over whyall types of lymphomas - a cancer of theimmune system cells - are increasing.Studies in various parts of the world havelinked lymphomas to exposure to certain herbicides like 2,4-D and organo hosphate esticides, whose use has increased dramatica yover the last 40 years. Other studies havelinked lymphomas to organic solvents usedwidely in industry and which_cYn_Te_aj -toageneral exposure of the population throughcommercial products and contamination ofdrinking water sources. This exposure too hasbeen growing over time. We know that peoplein Delhi are exposed to very high levels Of DDTand lead but the general public is aware of little else. Our toxicologists and doctors must not only play a scientific but also an activistrole as well to warn us about the threats weface. Who else is going to make us sit up andact? I know of one other environmentalist inDelhi who has been afflicted with a lymphomain recent years. Does not the medical and scientific profession owe us all a responsibility?