India - Water with high fluoride content
Water with fluoride content
Ramkrishna BadseshiFirst Published : 10 Mar 2009 03:54:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 10 Mar 2009 10:35:39 AM ISTGULBARGA: Flourisis-affected Khiru Naik tanda in Gulbarga taluk is an example of the negligent attitude of the state government, particularly the Health Department.
In 2000, the thanda hit the headlines.
Of the 60 people in the tanda, 27 suffer from skeletal deformity after drinking water with high fluoride content and the matter was raised in the Legislative Council too. Senior officials of most of the departments rushed to the tanda, additional bore-wells were dug, patients affected by fluorisis were admitted in hospitals and given caliper treatment (binding the affected part).
Some of the serious patients were given physically challenged pension.
However, the records available in the Health Department say that the fluorisis has not recurred in Khiru Naik Tanda. But when this correspondent visited the place on Sunday, the villagers showed one-and-halfyear- old Roshan, whose legs are affected with fluorisis.
Roshan’s father Bhim Singh said that he developed this abnormality six months ago.
He said: “None of the health officials examined my son and I too don’t know whom to approach or how much it costs. Moreover, we are poor people, so we can’t afford the treatment.” Shiru Bai (18), Pavitra (15) and Rajesh (20) are also suffering from the skeletal deformity.
About 20 people of the tanda have broken and discoloured teeth, which is another type of fluorisis.
The state government, which had been giving disabled pension to Shirubai, Pavitra and Rajesh a few years ago, had stopped suddenly a year ago without stating any reason.
Minister for Animal Husbandry Revu Naik Belamagi, who hails from the same Banjara community, has not visited the tanda since four years, villagers said.
Ramkrishna BadseshiFirst Published : 10 Mar 2009 03:54:00 AM ISTLast Updated : 10 Mar 2009 10:35:39 AM ISTGULBARGA: Flourisis-affected Khiru Naik tanda in Gulbarga taluk is an example of the negligent attitude of the state government, particularly the Health Department.
In 2000, the thanda hit the headlines.
Of the 60 people in the tanda, 27 suffer from skeletal deformity after drinking water with high fluoride content and the matter was raised in the Legislative Council too. Senior officials of most of the departments rushed to the tanda, additional bore-wells were dug, patients affected by fluorisis were admitted in hospitals and given caliper treatment (binding the affected part).
Some of the serious patients were given physically challenged pension.
However, the records available in the Health Department say that the fluorisis has not recurred in Khiru Naik Tanda. But when this correspondent visited the place on Sunday, the villagers showed one-and-halfyear- old Roshan, whose legs are affected with fluorisis.
Roshan’s father Bhim Singh said that he developed this abnormality six months ago.
He said: “None of the health officials examined my son and I too don’t know whom to approach or how much it costs. Moreover, we are poor people, so we can’t afford the treatment.” Shiru Bai (18), Pavitra (15) and Rajesh (20) are also suffering from the skeletal deformity.
About 20 people of the tanda have broken and discoloured teeth, which is another type of fluorisis.
The state government, which had been giving disabled pension to Shirubai, Pavitra and Rajesh a few years ago, had stopped suddenly a year ago without stating any reason.
Minister for Animal Husbandry Revu Naik Belamagi, who hails from the same Banjara community, has not visited the tanda since four years, villagers said.
posted by Bill at
9:35 AM
1 Comments:
I have seen three people in Queensland, Australia who exhibited signs of crippling skeletal fluorosis.
Each was bent nearly double. Two women in a North Queensland city and a man in Brisbane - Queensland's capital.
If I'd had the time (I was hurrying to catch a plane)I would have endeavoured to engage the last woman I saw in conversation and offered to shout her a cup of tea (we were in a shopping centre) with a view to drawing her into conversation about her condition, if possbile, and finding out what medications she was taking (there are many medications containing fluoride).
Coincidentally, when I sighted the man in Brisbane I was being driven to the airport so couldn't engage him in conversation either.
I have no proof that these three suffer from skeletal fluorosis but with medical practitioners generally not trained in the western world to diagnose this condition, it is possible they do have SF and are going undiagnosed.
Before I knew about SF, I had a friend in her 90s (now deceased) who had a very large Dowager's hump and I now wonder if she had SF. She had eaten a jelly every day for decades and I believe gelatine contains fluoride. And goodness knows what other fluoride she might have been ingesting. Her doctor told her that her hump was "normal for someone her age"!
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Anonymous, at 10 March, 2009
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