LETTERS
FROM PROFESSOR ZUBERI
March 13th 2004
20th December 2003
15th November 2003
September 3rd
2003
August_10th_2003
August 5th 2003
July 19th 2003:
July 14th, 2003:
June 28th 2004:
June 10th, 2003:
March 13th 2004 Dr. Richard
Wilson, This is in
response to your challenge ! (I requested a
definite proposal)
Though I
am too small, I want to work for something which help the poor for a
better life (they deserve it) and something sustainable. I want to go
for a collaboration – a collaboration with any body at any level –
because it adds to sustainability, it allows you to share problems,
resources and success.
I am a
teacher and researcher (trained in genetics); I like to work with
people for helping them and conserving our environment. I have been
working on biodiversity and resource management helped by some UK
universities and local NGOs. When the arsenic problem came up and the
poor villagers are involved, naturally I wanted to help them.
I
collected information from various sources about the problem and start
visiting affected villages where I have contacts (through students,
colleagues, known NGOs and friends). I found out that the villagers
know very little about arsenic, effect of arsenic and ways of
mitigation, this is expected because arsenic is a new problem added to
the ‘bundle of existing problems they are submersed in’. But the
existing sources and agents providing information (government and NGO)
are found to be very scarce, insufficient, inefficient and incomplete.
They had very little impact, the aim – mitigation remains unachieved. I
have done an assessment survey on this for the Christian Aid (UK).
So, I
started providing information regarding arsenic and its toxic effects,
and why they should adopt the mitigation steps; I also try to see how
they can get ‘safe water sources’. With my limited capacity these
activities may seem to be small; but I prefer to work at the
‘micro-level’ because as an environmentalist I emphasize on ‘immediate
solution of problem at the field level’. With arsenic, it is mandatory
to provide ‘safe water’ because of the nature of toxicity of ‘arsenic’
– but most ‘macro-level’ activities are not addressing this.
Several
examples:
I
worked at Sarisabari (Central Bangladesh), home town of one of my
students; families are suffering and dying; we visited and
discussed what to do, why they must use the ‘safe green tube
wells’. They began, but distance was a factor, IDA, a USA based
NGO donated 12 filters for them in response to our request and with
UNICEF help these were transported and installed in the village. A
group of 4-5 families share one filter and they are now rehabilitated.
My
association with national level NGOs like Christian Community for
Development of Bangladesh (CCDB), GonoSasthya Kendra (GK, =People’s
Health Center), Church of Bangladesh (CoB) and many local ones, about
100 dug wells have been established last year. I am trying for their
regular monitoring (with little success because of lack of funds).
This year
some NGOs and groups with contact, are given feed back for new
dug wells and renovating last year’s and old derelict wells which
became dry early this summer.
This
summer many dug wells are already dry, many villages have no supply of
safe water. The villagers need filters; with my request Dr. Alauddin of
Wagner College (NY) has kindly arranged 40 filters for distribution.
The poor villagers will be given ‘one for 4-5 families’on ‘soft’ loan;
others will buy these. Now I am arranging resource to bring them from
the place of manufacture (Kustia, South-east Bangladesh) and
deliver to those villages where they are badly needed.
So, you
see, my efforts are different others with funds and providing support
from outside. I go to the community first, provide them information
(this is the key activity in my program; then help them to adopt
mitigation. Here I want to create example, to be adopted by the
community themselves).
What I
want to do, if get support and collaboration, to select a few villages
and demonstrate that ‘community-based mitigation’ approach can work to
provide ‘effective organizational system to solve their problem on a
sustainable basis’. In the next stage, these ‘model’ systems will
be used to spread the approach; they will train and motivate other
villagers and facilitate diffusion of this system. What is important is
a close rapport and understanding with the villagers and correct
motivation with carefully planned support’. One has to appreciate the
system – the World Bank already is advocating this system for
‘sustainable development’. Please see web pages on ‘community driven
development’.
I prefer
collaboration, because collaboration has more useful impact and quicken
the progress, help to cross hardles; it weakens bureaucracy and
motivate people to break off ‘old system’ and ‘change behavior’.
Hope this
communication will result in some positive contribution in this sad
affair.
Zuberi
20th December 2003
Preventing
disasters : Arsenic contamination of
drinking water, what is our responsibility ?
1.
The most serious is the arsenic
contamination of groundwater in major aquifers supplying potable water
to about 200 million
people in Bangladesh and in West Bengal, India. The contamination of
groundwater with arsenic remained unnoticed for a long
time, as arsenic was not included in the routine groundwater quality
assessment. Patients with arsenicosis disease and groundwater
contamination had been identified in neighboring West Bengal, India as
early as in 1983. Presence of arsenic in tube-well (hand
pump) water exceeding the acceptable limit was first detected in
Baroghoria union of Chapainawabgonj district by the
Government's Department of Public Health Engineering (DPHE) in late
1993 in Bangladesh. But no attention was given to the
country's arsenic problem until a large number of people were reported
to have various symptoms of arsenic toxicity - when a
World Bank Mission visited Bangladesh to assess the arsenic scenario
and to initiate mitigation program in 1997. As more than
95% of the 120 million people drink tubewell water in Bangladesh since
1980s, the potential seriousness of the problem can be
imagined.
According to the statistical survey of British Geological Survey (BGS)
and DPHE of Bangladesh, which tested 3,534 randomly
selected tubewells several years back, 25% of the samples have arsenic
contamination above Bangladesh standard of 50 mgL-1,
while 42% surpassed WHO guideline value of 10 mgL-1 for drinking water.
In case of shallow tubewells (depth <150 m) 27% and
46% exceeded arsenic level of 50 mgL-1 and 10 mgL-1 respectively.
The magnitude of arsenic contamination of groundwater in Bangladesh is
colossal. Smith and his associates described the situation
as the worst mass poisoning in human history. According to recent suvey
about half of the country's population are at risk
The World Bank feared that 43,000 out of 86,000 villages are at risk or
will be at risk in near future ..
BGS/DPHE/MML in Phase-I studies found that 18.5 - 22.7 million people
are exposed to arsenic contamination. BGS/DPHE ,
finally, gave estimates of total population exposed to arsenic
contamination as 35.2 and 56.7 million above 50 mgL-1 and 10 mgL-1
respectively using Kriging Method. Based on upazilla statistics, the
exposure estimates are 28.1 and 46.6 million exceeding 50
mgL-1 and 10 mgL-1 respectively. SOES and Dhaka Community Hospital
(DCH) estimates for populations exposed to above 50
mgL-1 and 10 mgL-1 of arsenic content in 43 districts of Bangladesh are
25 and 51million respectively.
2. It is six months
since we
visited
two arsenic-affected villages in the Northwestern Bangladesh in the
recent floodplains of the
river Ganges, just opposite to Maldah of West Bengal (India). The
villages are Bhatutola and Malipara in Chhatrajitpur Union of
Chapai Nawabganj District; this district is the worst affected in this
region. There are about 1200 people (150 families), all
members of many families are bearing acute symptoms of arsenic
poisoning. We visited the village yesterday (July 26, 2003), they
are still drinking arsenic contaminated water!
It appears to me that
the authorities (
Government, UN
Agencies, International Agencies, NGOs, Civil Society, researchers and
scientists, local bodies etc.) are considering their responsibility in
regard to the 'arsenic mitigation' in affected villages of
Bangladesh in just 'screening and labeling the contaminated wells'. So
far I have seen, especially in the villages where arsenic was
initially detected several years back (in Chapai Nawabganj, Charghat of
Rajshahi, Sarisabari of Tangail) and the people are badly
affected ( deaths already had occurred and many are with acute
symptoms), there is no sign of meaningful effort to do something
more than labeling tube-wells. Those who have given some remediation
are one-time and meager.
Do
the affected people deserve just this ?
Can we limit our responsibility to this far ?
3.
We may look back how the
villagers were traditionally placed in this issue of drinking water.
1) There were dug
wells and brick / cement made wells
in almost every household of this region, they had a reasonably
efficient
and sustainable supply of drinking water. There were contaminations,
diseases and epidemics on occasions, especially during floods
and dry seasons - they had indigenous ways to cope with those.
Sometimes they did suffer but that is what they are destined with;
these were part of their life and they adjusted and evolved with
indigenous knowledge and traditions to face these.
2) Science and technology helped us to cope with problems in our
natural resource utilization, and tube wells are introduced; in
Bangladesh geographical area about 1 million dug wells were replaced
during 1960s by several ( 4/5 ?)million tube wells by this
time. The dug-wells are abandoned, polluted and destroyed and the
tradition lost. The people adopted the technology very rapidly as
advocated by the Government, UNICEF, WHO , NGOs and the civil society.
This seemed to be a very simple and single resource-based (renewable
natural resource - ground water aquifers ) solution.
3) What the technology introducers have not considered is the
interaction / effect of this uncontrolled use and the inter-relations
between ground-water and bed-rock / sediment ; physical-chemical
effects { hydro-geo-chemical aspects). There was no such
detailed study to forecast the impacts, both short-term and long-term
in this floodplains in relation to massive and continuous
abstraction of ground water.
4) There was also no monitoring of ground water quality anywhere, many
heavy metals and radicals have been increasing as we
now see; arsenic became the one which slow-poisoned millions by only a
span of 30/40 years !
4.
Not lengthening this further, we
all know what rights the people are supposed to have:
1) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) included safe water
2) Their Social , Cultural Right to get safe water
(
ICESCR, 1966, Article 2);
3)They have their Constitutional Right provided by
the
State;
4)The people's Fundamental Human Right : 'Water is
fundamental for life… '
5) UNICEF's Declaration on access to safe water
6) Rights of the Child: on access to safe drinking
water (1989)
7) Rio Declaration; Agenda 21 on water resources
8) Towards Sustainability: Implementing Agenda 21
,
Johannesburg, 2002
We do not want to
bring more of these documents
supporting the people's fundamental and legal rights; the reality here
in
Bangladesh villages are entirely different. But we should not forget
our obligations too long to threat sustainability of our society,
ecosystem and our only home, the Earth. We should remember:
* The State has
strong obligations regarding the Human Rights to Water; the State has
to Respect, Protect and Fulfill
Human Rights. The obligation to protect
relates to the duty of the state to regulate the behavior of non-state
actors,
individuals, groups and enterprises. The obligation to fulfill
is an obligation for a more positive action to facilitate and
provide access to adequate water for those who do not have it.
* The villagers
can not simply afford to adopt the
simplest intervention, say digging a well eg. going back to their old
traditional system because:
- it costs a few
thousand Taka , their whole year's
income/expenditure;
- there is no suitable place left in their
household to
locate the new well
- materials and experts required to dig are no
longer
readily available
- time suitable for this digging is short only 2-3
months in the dry season
- traditions and indigenous knowledge for
protecting
surface water and wells are eroding fast.
Now it is our duty to decide what we should do.
For
example,
5.
We visited the villages several
times ( in between 08/06/03 and 27/07/03) . Chhatrajitpur, Rajarampur
and Uporajarampur
villages of Chapai Nawabganj disdtrict is the area where arsenic was
first detected in Bangladesh ; numerous teams, agencies,
scientists visited this area. The villagers are too reluctant to talk,
they said 'you come and talk, take photographs; nothing has been
done'.
The scenario of
the village Rajarampur (and many
others) is very grave; this is a very large and thickly populated
village. Has been
very badly affected with arsenic, there are many patients. Only four
Dug-wells and two arsenic free tube-wells are there; Proshika
has installed an Arsenic Treatment Plant which is long been out of
order. There is heavy pressure on these sources and many
families are not taking the trouble of collecting drinking water from
these sources. They simply use contaminated tube wells; families of
Latifur Rahman, Nawsher Ali, Shukur Uddin, Enamul haq, Faris Uddin are
a few. Similar situation exist in the
neighboring village Haripur, 90% tube-wells affected, there are only 3
dug-wells for the entire village population. In Chhatrajitpur
too, people are still drinking arsenic -water.
We noticed the
villagers' negligence in some cases.
They do not want to collect water from 1/4th of a Km distance; some
only
collect drinking water but cook with water from arsenic contaminated
wells. They often casually drink arsenic water, giving little
seriousness to arsenic. I observed that the level of awareness is low,
so they tend not to give importance to the toxicity of arsenic.
6.
Persistent awareness generation
with many different options of safe water ensuring a comparatively easy
and sustainable are to
be developed through intimate participation of the community users so
that they adopt it as they develop.
Solar disinfection
of surface water (SWD) and solar
oxidation & removal of arsenic (SORAS) can very easily be adopted
as safe
water source in the villages in Bangladesh. We are introducing these
here, but time and effort will be needed to convince the
villagers about the reliability of the method.
We are thinking of
adopting a 'community-based adoption
of SWD and SORAS in arsenic affected villages'. We need
participation, support and awareness generating materials (papers,
pictures, data, charts) for an effective and immediate results.
7.
Coming back to arsenic toxicity
mitigation through food and nutrition, a summary of what information we
have and what we are
trying to adopt are given below:
1. Arsenic is metabolically very active and very toxic; healthy human
system has mechanisms to get rid of arsenic quickly. But
malnourished body or those on protein/vitamin/micro-nutrient- deficient
diets fail to remove arsenic quickly; also if large amounts
are ingested, body system fails. So, by food and nutrition
supplementation much mitigation of toxicity can be possible, especially
in
case of poor villagers already on deficient diet for long periods.
2. Research has shown that methionine is one of
the key
amino acids involved in arsenic metabolism; this amino acid is mostly
found in animal protein, plants have it in very small quantities; bread
wheat and beans/pulses taken together can provide both
methionine and lysine, much needed for arsenic metabolism. Vitamin B12
is also important, again found in animal protein, but
Spirulina, a fresh-water blue-green algae, contains high
levels of this vitamin (riboflavin).
3. Vitamin C, iron, Selenium, Vitamin E, cystein
(another Sulfur amino acid), niacin, folic acid are also known to act
in arsenic
excretion and in protection of human body from this toxic element.
4. So by increasing animal proteins, fresh/green/colored vegetables and
fruits, including wheat germ, and other sources of
vitamins/minerals/amino acids; and by supplementing food from other
sources one can help to cure artsenicosis;
5. You have to look for the local, indigenous items for the
fortification of diet which the poor can afford / easily available /
and
continued for long time.
8. Another occasion , we visited several arsenic affected
villages of 'Bera' Upozila of Pabna (Western Bangladesh) during July 6
& 7, 2003. What we saw and what is said by the villagers are
reported here for arsenic mitigation workers and agencies. We
concentrate on the village 'Syedpur' which was reported to have 450 to
500 households and very badly affected by arsenic. More
than 70% of the tube wells ( about two hundred) are identified and
marked 'red' There are more than 200 patients with visual
symptoms, we saw several in two families
The most important
point is that many households are
observed to use the 'red' tube wells for drinking and cooking. We had
discussion with families of Isakuddin, Jinnah, Eunus ali, Dulal all
from 'Madhyapara' of Syedpur - all are using water from 'red'
tube wells. When asked why they are doing this following history came
out.
There were reports
of a large number of arsenicosis
patients from this village 3 to 4 years back and several deaths had
occurred.
Workers from NGO Forum (they said) had screened their
tube wells about 2 years back and marked the contaminated tube wells
'red' asking them not to drink water from these arsenic contaminated
wells. Many wells about 70% were contaminated. When asked
what they should do, they were advised to use 'green' wells. For those
who do not have 'green' wells nearby requested alternative
sources, the workers wanted to come back with solution later. But they
did not. In the meantime they resumed drinking from
contaminated wells.Several months back, doctor and
workers from Dhaka Community Hospital visited the village,
collected blood,
hair, nail and other samples for testing. They also given 'Cards' for
each members of the families. But they said the had no feed
back.
Many other teams
visited them, interviewed them,
collected samples of human tissue, vegetables, tube well water, cooked
materials.
But nobody came back with any results, remedy or any other support.
The village
community have no eagerness to adopt
mitigation measures because they have lost all hope and responded
vaguely to
our suggestions of rain-water, solar removal of arsenic, solar
treatment of pond water, charcoal/sand filtration and other remedial
measures which they can adopt.
Many patients are
in need of intensive attention here,
in a number of villages, there should be thorough mitigation action
through
community involvement; this need is important to bring back hope to the
affected and save them from rapid degradation of the
society. They are physically and morally on the decline ! the scene is
simply pathetic ! A young girl of 15 named Nargis came to
show her amputated leg, I could not stand the scene. We need to give
immediate attention to the situation with a socio-economic
approach.
9.
Children's Rights for SAFE WATER &
HEALTH are violated in Bangladesh:
Millions of
children have been drinking arsenic
contaminated water throughout Bangladesh along with the other
members of rural communities, as a very widespread country-wide ground
water contamination occurred since last decade or so; the safe ' hand tube wells' once introduced by WHO, UNICEF,
Bangladesh government, NGOs & civil society for supplying safe
drinking
in the 1960s & 70s but that 'safe water' now has become causes of
extensive poisoning, cancer and deaths. The toxicity not only is
affecting physiology, metabolism and their normal growth, thus
'poisoning' already very seriously the already malnourished
infants
& children of Bangladesh, but also affecting protein synthesis,
DNA repair, hereditary changes (mutations) causing cancer, ruining
reproductive growth and development and the hormone receptors, thus
their future reproductive ability and normal life is seriously
threatened.
So, here , we are concerned with the future of a nation; it has been
estimated the more than 80 million has already been exposed,
majority of them are below the age of 15.
The existing
approach to mitigate this disaster has
been 'TOP DOWN' , decisions are being taken at the capital and
'intervention'
are provided from the center. Only a fraction of the affected are
provided with one-time support; sustainable mitigation needing a
"Community-based Organization'(CBO) based self-support approach where
the community members will be provided with the
options, they will decide which technology they adopt and can sustain;
then helping them to adopt it. This will be facilitated by
NGOs with local contact, and will be replicated and diffused through
other villages; schools will be provided with safe sources by
the children themselves and they will learn the methods to diffuse them
into their homes and homes of neighbors. Scaling -up of the
CBOs of surrounding areas and linking them with Local Government,
Central government departments and agencies like WHO,
UNICEF, International NGOs.
Thus the approach starting from the 'bottom',
small but
effective; appropriate for the villagers and very widely implemented
quickly and which will be sustainable is needed. We are working in a number of villages; have wide
consultations with the suffering villagers and they are ready for this
type of
community-based interventions, but they need institutions and adoptable
methods, they have no time to waste.
Otherwise
litigation, wide dissatisfaction, social
unrest and country-wide instability may result when the people will
experience
slow but painful death and un-thinkable suffering.
As the members of
the same 'global village' the arsenic
disaster urgently needs serious attention but so far failed at every
level !
What is needed is down-to-the-earth approach, going directly to each
and every village affected, each and every person especially
the infants and the children and help them to solve their own problem.
We do not want to see another havoc like 'AIDS
causing
in Africa'.
These points are
made to highlight the level and nature
of disaster we are facing. Please do respond with
your kind help for a
realistic approach to control, mitigation and remediation of this
emergency.
Sat, 15 Nov 2003
Are As-consuming people mentally affected & too depressed to adopt remediation: is this a part of the As syndrome ?
Are the arsenic-consuming people mentally affected and too depressed to adopt remediation: is this a part of the arsenic syndrome?
There is no change in the villages facing arsenic contamination. In Sarisabari, Central Bangladesh, in the villages of Bogra, Pabna, and Chapai
Nawabganj thousands are still drinking contaminated water. The families are badly affected, many adults can no longer work and stay sitting or dozing;
many are waiting helplessly to embrace death. The recent report of the death of a girl and her sister suffering from skin cancer from Narsingdi by Dr Azad
is only one of many others [see arsenic-crisis message #119 at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/arsenic-crisis/message/119 ].
I have visited about a dozen affected villages several times in connection with a Christian Aid Assessment Survey this year, and now have started to
believe that the communities who have been exposed to toxic arsenic through drinking water for a long time are strongly mentally affected. These affected
villagers are mentally slow and inactive, and do not respond to conversation and requests. The families are very indifferent, do not show interest in
remediation suggestions, or in adopting alternative sources of safe water or medications. Though sometimes they respond immediately, they fail to
continue; they do not have mental strength and stamina to continue. If this is so, the arsenic mitigation will be doubly difficult.
And if this continues, the agricultural labor force of the country will be destroyed, productivity will decline, and poverty will be intensified. This is
why we the town-folks, away from arsenic contamination (because we are fortunate enough to have running water from deeper levels), should be
concerned. Please do something for your own sake! What about the village people? That is their fate! What can we do?September 3rd 2003
September
I write this time to report that:
Very little is happening in
arsenic-affected villages.For
example,in Sarisabari village (Jamalpur district), the 12 filters we
installed courtesy of IDE (a
US-based NGO), are becoming
choked with arsenic/iron.
There is no way to change
filters or renew the active
ingredients. Nobody else
visited these and neighboring villages or did anything, and
the poor villagers are drinking arsenic-contaminated
water.
Most of the villages in arsenic affected-areas
present the
same
scenario! Nothing worth mentioning happening!
Another possible harmful effect of
arsenic: does bioavailable
arsenic reduce selenium availability in human and animals?
Selenium (Se) is a trace element
that is essential for a
healthy body. It
is a critical component of
glutathione peroxidase, an
antioxidant present in eg. cellular, plasma, phospholipid, and
gastrointestinal forms.
There are seleno-proteins in plasma,
muscle, and placenta as well.
Other
seleno-proteins such as selenophosphate synthetase, and different
types of iodothyronine deiodinases are involved in thyroid hormone
synthesis and regulation. Seleno-proteins plays an important
role in sperm flagella functioning. They also reduce oxidative
stress, thus playing a role in several types of cancer and in cell
growth regulation.
Selenium deficiency results in Keshan
and Kachin-Beck diseases
(selenium deficiency diseases),
sperm production
irregularity, and immune system impairment.
Inorganic selenium is present in trace
amounts in soil and water
and is absorbed from them by
plants to become organic
selenium (Se-methionine) and this
in turn is ingested by
animals (Se-methionine and Se-cysteine). In the floodplains,
Se is transported to and accumulates in the marshes (i.e. low
lying areas) with agricultural run-off and then washed away with
floodwater. , Many deltaic flood-plains
are Se deficient, and large parts
of Bangladesh (and China)
are
likely to be very deficient in Se. This
deficiency leads to
deficiencies in food-crops, in animal products, and
ultimately in human bodies.
Recent research has indicated that
selenium protects the human
body from other heavy metals like
mercury (Hg) and arsenic
(As). For example, in the
presence of bio-available
aresenic, a Se-As
metabolite (Seleno-bis (S-glutathionyl) arsinium) is formed that allows
mutual
excretion of both Se and As.
This raises the
possibility that
As will decrease the 'already deficient'
Se in the
body. As
this will happen to animals as well, thus further reducing Se
supply
to humans. The biological
significance of Se-cysteine is
recognized
as the 21st essential amino acid.
The FDA (USA) recommended daily
allowance of Se for adults ranges
from 55 to 70 microgram/day.
Is this not worrying?
(Sources: Combs, 1986, 1998; Harthill,
2003)
[From the moderator: I looked for
these references
online. I didn't find either
of them, but I did find:
1. Combs 1986 is probably:
Combs, G.F. Jr., and Combs, S.B., 1986,
The Role of Selenium in
Nutrition, Academic Press, Inc.,
532 p.
This does not seem to be available
online, but a similar title,
three years earlier (183) and
prepared by a subcommittee of
which G.F. Combs was a member, is:
Selenium in Nutrition (Revised
Edition), Subcommittee on Selenium,
Committee
on Animal Nutrition, Board on Agriculture, National Research
Council.
National Academy Press, Washington, D.C. 1983. Full text
available online at:
http://books.nap.edu/books/0309033756/html/index.html
2. Maybe Harthill 2003 is the/a
paper that came out of the
work described in this abstract:
Does Bioavailable Arsenic Affect
Nutritional Selenium?: A Brief
Review Of Se Nutrition.
Extended abstract, USGS
Workshop on Arsenic in the Environment,
February 21-22, 2001,
Denver, CO. Full text available online at:
http://wwwbrr.cr.usgs.gov/Arsenic/FinalAbsPDF/harthill.pdf
August
10th 2003
This time we visited two arsenic-affected villages in the
Northwestern
Bangladesh
right in the recent floodplains of the river Ganges, just opposite to
Maldah
of West Bengal, India. The villages are Bhatutola and Malipara,
Chhatrajitpur
Union, Chapai Nawabganj District. This district is the worst
affected
in this region.
There are about 1200 people (150 families), all members of many
families
are bearing acute symptoms of arsenic poisoning. I do
August 5th
2003
Dear friends,
I had to go to a village in Chapai
Nawabganj (Northern Bangladesh) last
week
for some mitigation activity. I was taking the weights of the
children
who are still drinking arsenic contaminated water (!) even after
warning.
Two dug wells have been provided but the water is not acceptable; it is
smelly.
I came across with two young
girls in their teens with babies on
their
laps. I talked to them and learned that they are from the same village
and
it is their babies in their laps. The babies and their teenage mothers
were
clearly seen to be very weak, underweight, and malnourished. When I
asked
them about their source of drinking water, they indicated the same
‘red’
tube well. I requested them to stand on the scale, after several
moments
the smart one stepped up first; she weighed only 35 kg, the second
lady,
35.5 kg. When I requested them to allow their little ones to weigh,
they
readily agreed, the first one is 5.5 kg and second, 5.1 kg, their age
is
12 and 13 months respectively.
These two teenage mothers represent a
young generation who have been on
arsenic-contaminated
drinking water for their entire lives and now giving birth to babies
who
are already exposed to arsenic before they were born. Arsenic travels
freely
in blood and readily cross the placenta. Their extreme underweight,
frail
bodies, and pathetic looks haunt me.We are likely to see more and more
like
these young mothers, and frail babies in our villages. Is this to
be
the picture of future Bangladesh villages!
How will these future generations of
villagers continue with
agriculture,
to give hard labor and to feed us!
I am really worried!
July 19th, 2003:
Millions
of children have been drinking arsenic-contaminated water
throughout Bangladesh, along with the other members of rural
communities, as a very
widespread country-wide ground water contamination occurred since last
decade or so. The safe "hand tube wells" were introduced by WHO,
UNICEF,
Bangladesh government, NGOs & civil society for supplying safe
drinking in the 1960s &
70s, but that "safe water" now has become the cause of extensive
poisoning,
cancer, and death. The toxicity is not only affecting physiology,
metabolism, and normal growth, thus poisoning very seriously the
already malnourished
infants & children of Bangladesh, but is also affecting protein
synthesis
and DNA repair, causing hereditary changes (mutations) leading to
cancer,
ruining reproductive growth and development and hormone
receptors. Thus the future
reproductive ability and normal life of these Bangladeshi children is
seriously threatened.
So, here, we are concerned with the future of a nation. It has
been
estimated the more than 80 million Bangladeshis have already been
exposed, with a
majority of them below the age of 15.
The existing approach to mitigate this disaster has been "top down",
with
decisions being taken in the capital and "interventions" provided from
the
center. Only a fraction of the affected are provided with
one-time support;
when what is needed is sustainable mitigation through a
'community-based
organization(CBO) approach in which community members are provided
with
options, supported in deciding for themselves which technology to adopt
that
they can sustain, and then help to adopt it. This would be facilitated
by
NGOs with local contact, and replicated and diffused through many
villages.
Schools would be provided with safe sources by the children themselves,
thereby
learning the methods and then diffusing them into their homes and the
homes of neighbors. There would be a need to scale up the CBOs in
unserved areas
and to link them with local government, central government departments
and agencies
like WHO, UNICEF, International NGOs.
Thus the approach should start from the bottom; small, effective, and
sustainable. It should be appropriate for villagers, and
implemented widely
and quickly.
We are working in a number of villages and have had wide consultations
with
the suffering villagers. They are ready for this type of
community-based
intervention, but they need institutions and adoptable methods, they
have no
time to waste.
Otherwise litigation, wide dissatisfaction, social unrest and
country-wide
instability may result as the people experience unthinkable suffering
and
slow painful death.
As the members of the same "global village", the arsenic disaster
urgently
needs serious attention but so far this has failed at every
level! What is
needed is a down-to-the-earth approach, going directly to each and
every
affected village, and each and every person, especially infants and
children, to help them to solve their own problem.
We do not want to see another chaotic situation like that which AIDS is
causing in Africa.
Dr. M.I.Zuberi
Professor
University of Rajshahi
Bangladesh
July 14th, 2003:
Dear Readers,
Here I am again, with a report that may disturb your peace of mind; please
Do excuse me for that. I re-visited the villages of Syedpur (Pabna) and
Rajarampur (Chapai Nawabganj) on July 12 and 13, with one of my British
Lawyer friends, who came from UK to see the fate of the arsenic affected people
With his own eyes. I have both good and bad news for you.
Good news first:
1. It is good that the arsenic-crisis discussion group is continuing. It
has enabled me and others to reach a greater and right audience; the British
lawyers visit; responses from agencies like UNICEF, from researchers for
remediation; and for participation, visits, and help.
2. Those we met at Rajarampur are drinking arsenic-free water. They are
fully aware of the risks. Many also mention the distance to wells;
crowding; waiting time, labor shortages, and poverty as difficulties for continuing
this. It is encouraging that the women and children we met are very well
aware of the risks.
Bad news:
3. We have been reported by local CCDB workers that four of the nine newly
dug wells in Chapai Nawabganj and one out of three in Pabna have been detected
to be arsenic contaminated. They are checking it but it is real. I have
heard several other reports like this. Now you see the seriousness of this
event. Dug wells are considered the best option for sustainable intervention for
providing safe drinking water if bacterial contamination can be controlled.
We have been suggesting it, and UNICEF/DPHE renovated 114 dug wells in five
Upazilas. They installed 134 protected dug wells in 45 Upazilas. AMP also
provided many dug wells and plan many more.
4. There are reports of some contaminated deep tube wells (DTW) in Chapai
Nawabganj and other areas. In Chandpur, only 150 of 312 DTWs are safe
(Final Report, UNICEF, 2000, Annex 3).
5. During my first visit to Syedpur (Pabna), I discussed the different easy
methods of arsenic removal with some people there. When they are now asked
whether they are still drinking water from RED tube wells or have adopted
removal methods, they kept quiet. They are still drinking from RED tube
wells.
This is a the worst news I ever posted. Are they not fully aware of the
danger? Are they still waiting for some one to do it? I had discussions,
further persuasion and they promised they will not drink from red wells and
adopt any one of the methods most suitable. These villagers need an
organizational support from within to learn, adopt, and implement the
simple methods needing little expenditure. What more is needed is an institution
of their own; traditional institutions ( samaj, gosthi, even the extended
family) have broken down. Shall we be able to do this?
July 8th, 2003:
We visited
several arsenic affected villages of Bera Upozila of Pabna
(western
Bangladesh
) during July 6 & 7, 2003. What we saw and what is said by the
villagers are reported
here for arsenic mitigation workers and agencies. We
concentrate on the village ‘Syedpur’ which was reported
to have 450 to 500
households and very badly
affected by arsenic. More than 70% of the tube
wells (about two
hundred) are identified and marked ‘red’ There are more than
200
patients with visual
symptoms, we saw several in two families
The most
important point is that many households are observed to use the
‘red’ tube wells for drinking and cooking. We
had discussion with families of
Isakuddin
, Jinnah, Eunus
ali, Dulal all from ‘
Madhyapara’ of Syedpur – all
are using water from
‘red’ tube wells. When asked why they are doing this
following history came out.
There were
reports of a large number of arsenicosis
patients from this
village 3 to 4 years
back and several deaths had occurred. Workers from NGO Forum
(they said) had screened their tube wells about
2 years back and marked the
contaminated tube wells ‘red’
asking them not to drink water from these
arsenic contaminated
wells. Many wells about 70% were contaminated. When
asked what they should
do, they were advised to use ‘green’ wells. For those who
do not have ‘green’
wells nearby requested alternative sources, the workers
wanted to come back
with solution later. But they did not. In the meantime
they resumed drinking
from contaminated wells.
Several months
back, doctor and workers from
Dhaka
Community
Hospital
visited the village,
collected blood, hair, nail and other samples for testing.
They
also given ‘cards’
for each members of the families. But they said the had
no feed back.
Many other teams
visited them, interviewed them, collected samples of human
tissue
, vegetables, tube well water, cooked materials. But nobody came back
with any results,
remedy or any other support.
The local branch
of Gonosasthya Kendra (GK) has
been providing some vitamins
to the worst
affected patients. Only last month initiative was taken to dig
two ‘dug wells’ by
GK but these are yet to be completed.
The village community have no eagerness to adopt
mitigation measures because
they have lost all
hope and responded vaguely to our suggestions of rain-
water
, solar removal of arsenic, solar treatment of pond water,
charcoal/sand filtration and
other remedial measures which they can adopt.
Many patients are
in need of intensive attention here, in a number of
villages
, there should be thorough mitigation action through community
involvement
; this need is important to bring back hope to the affected and
save them from rapid
degradation of the society. They are physically and
morally on the decline !
the scene is simply pathetic
! A young girl of 15
named Nargis came to show her amputated leg, I could
not stand the scene. We
need to give
immediate attention to the situation with a socio-economic
approach
.
That’s enough for
today.
Thanks.
M.I.Zuberi
,
Rajshahi
University
.
June 28th, 2003:
I visited Meherpur arsenic affected villages
of Alampur and Bholadangh
during
25-26 June, 2003
with the workers of
Church of
Bangladesh (CoB) who are
working there for
arsenic mitigation and social development. We traveled to the
remote villages by
motor-bikes to spend a day with
them. What we saw and what have
been reported by the
villagers are reported here for Arsenic Mitigation
Researchers.
The village Alampur is inhabited by 400/450 families
mostly small and poor
peasants
, majority ( about 300) are very poor. About 5/6 had already died,
130 patients had
been identified in 2002 and 149 during 2003 by the
CoB workers.
Many of the
affected are young children and women.
The second village, Bholadanga
, with 250 to 300 families mostly land less
peasants and some
low-caste cobblers/cleaners is more acutely affected; 35
persons died so far; 70
to 80 are in bad condition with visible symptoms;
again many are young .
The CoB-Arsenic Mitigation
Project (AMP) with the help of
Christian Aid’s
fund had tested all the 204 tube –wells in 2002 and found
70% contaminated
with more than 50 ppb arsenic.
Only those
affected having visible symptoms on skin have been provided with
>vitamins A,E,C for one month, yet many could
not be supplied with because of
limited funds; less
serious patients were not attended for.
The villagers
were asked to drink water from ‘green’ tube-wells; 3 old
dug-wells have been
renovated and 4 dug-wells newly established; many families
consider safe-water
sources long distance away from their homes and often drink water
from ‘red’
tube-wells. While we were discussing arsenic mitigation, a little
girl was noticed
washing hands and then drinking from a ‘red’ tube well;
when interrupted she
discontinued and said that the nearest ‘green’ tube-well
is
several houses away. I
observed that most of the house-holds do not have
enough water-pots
(earthen-ware pitchers traditionally used by the poor for storing
water
) for day’s supply; one pot is the usual and they go for re-filling
it when becomes
empty; so running out of water and using the nearest tube-well
,
though ‘red’ is very
common. When asked about this many women talking to us
agreed that this
happens at night or during rains or when the person is very tired
and
thirsty
; they also reported that it is difficult to stop the kids who
developed
the habit of
drinking water directly from the tube-wells.
In the low-caste
village, Paschimpara of
Bholadanga where there are about
120 families
there are some 50 hand tube-wells, all marked ‘red’ except 4/5;
many of the 35 deaths
occurred here. Villagers described how they have been
affected – since 6-7
years, first not knowing that it is arsenic from tube-wells
doing
these
.
One very
interesting incidence was reported which indicate how diverse are
the problems
relating to mitigation are; the section of the villagers have been
collecting water from an
arsenic-free tube-well several houses away, there
was a social dispute
and quarrel as a result that group took away the ‘tube-well
head
’ after there use so that those distant households can not collect water
from this ‘green’
tube well. Though the tube well was supplied by the Government
Department, the
distant house-hold collectors were barred from collecting
water
, as a result they had been drinking water from contaminated for last 12
days !
We were surprised
to see that how lightly they take arsenic – there were
other green
tube-wells, there is a Dug-well provided by CoB
-AMP a small distance
away but they
consumed contaminated water with their children and infants !
Definitely, there
is much to do on ‘
AWARENESS
BUILDING
’ among the
villagers
; the do not realize the seriousness. Very little could be done by
those
who are
now working in a
very small number of affected villages. Also the approach
that some one (NGO/Govt. department/ agents) will
just test the tube-wells and then
others will do the
awareness/mitigation activities – an approach currently
adopted in
Bangladesh
.
Another important
aspect of arsenic mitigation came up during a discussion
with local news-paper
reporters and leaders in Alampur village.
There are more
than 100 Shallow Tube
Wells (STWs) in this arsenic–affected
village which are
using the same aquifer as the contaminated hand tube-wells.
Many are used almost
round the year and
12/14 hours a day. There are 45 STWs in
the other
affected village. They
are intensely used during the Boro (dry
season) paddy
cultivation and must have
been importing tons of arsenic to the surface ! There is no
soil test done yet.
When I requested them as leaders of the village why not
introduce ‘wheat’ during
winter (Boro) season crop which
require much less water, they
said that they do not
have a suitable HYV wheat for their region ! Why not
local variety ? Yield
less they said. Why not maize or vegetables
? They agreed
that that could save
soil and produce same return. I mentioned that intensive
Paddy cultivation
is the most damaging agricultural activity- we must reduce
rice
consumption and cultivation if we want to
save our environment.
The villagers present were motivated to consume less rice
–
they are used to take
three rice meals ( if can afford) little vegetables
and fruits; other
major items as WHEAT / POTATO
with lots of vegetables and
fruits can save them
from Arsenic and also help save their environment.
The community
workers of CoB are doing their
best but had very little
support for meeting the
needs; Christian Aids support is running out this year.
They
are afraid whatever
little they are doing now will be stopped soon. What a
pity
!
June 10th
2003
Dear Friends,
I am here again
reporting what I have seen and the villagers reported
during my visit on [
June 8th, 2003
] to Rajarampur and Uporajarampur
villages of
Chapai Nawabganj disdtrict
; this is the area where arsenic was first
detected in
Bangladesh and numerous teams, agencies, scientists visited
this area. The
villagers are too reluctant to talk, they said _you come and
talk
, take photographs; nothing has been done_.
I have seen that
in Uporajarampur the dug-wells
reported dry during my
last visit were
renovated by CCDB, thanks for prompt action,
so all but
one now have
water; people are happy. One in Durgapur
which became dry even
after renovation
(near Abdul Mannan_s house,
local Forum Organizer) need
more work.
The scenario of Rajarampur is very grave; this
is a very large and
thickly populated
village. Has been very badly affected with arsenic, there
are many
patients. Only four Dug-wells and two arsenic free tube-wells are
there; Proshika has installed an
Arsenic Treatment Plant which is long
been out of
order. There is heavy pressure on these sources and many
families are not
taking the trouble of collecting drinking water from these
sources. They
simply use contaminated tube wells;
families of Latifur
Rahman
, Nawsher Ali, Shukur
Uddin, Enamul
haq, Faris Uddin
are a few.
Similar situation
exist in the neighboring
village Haripur, 90%
tube-wells
affected, there are only 3 dug-wells for the entire village
population
.
We noticed the
villagers_ negligence in some cases. They do not want to
collect water
from 1/4th of a Km distance; some
only collect drinking
water but cook
with water from arsenic contaminated wells. They often
casually drink
arsenic water, giving little seriousness to arsenic. I
observed that the
level of awareness is low, so they tend not to give
importance to the toxicity
of arsenic.
Persistent
awareness generation with many different options of safe water
ensuring a
comparatively easy and sustainable are to be developed
through
intimate
participation of the community users so that they adopt it as they
develop