07/25/2014, 00.00
INDIA
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Jharkhand, a journey among children crippled by uranium contamination

For years, environmental groups have denounced the living conditions of the inhabitants of the villages around Jaduguda, India’s first uranium mine. The majority of children suffer from severe physical deformities, which often lead to their death. Activisits denounce the dumping of toxic waste products. The president of the company that operates the mine claims the children "were brought here on purpose."

New Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - Swollen heads, blood disorders, skeletal distortions, missing eyes or ears, fingers fused together, brain damage. These are just some of the physical deformities that a vast number of the children in the villages around Jaduguda, the eastern city of the Indian state of Jharkhand, suffer from.

For years, environmentalists have been tracing these conditions to toxic waste products from the mining of uranium in the area. Yet Diwakar Acharya, Chairman of the Uranium Corp. Of India Ltd. - the public company that manages the reservoir - denies all liability: "I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of those guys are imported from elsewhere".

Discovered in 1951, the Jaduguda reservoir became the first uranium mine in India. The mining started in 1967. February last the publication of photographs depicting children with severe deformities, prompted the High Court of Jharkhand to investigate the Uranium Corp. and other government agencies.

The High Court wrote in its order "the health problems related to uranium mining are affecting the indigenous people disproportionately in and around the uranium mining operational area," with as many as 50,000 people at risk. Children living near the mines are "born with swollen heads, blood disorders and skeletal distortions".

This is the case of 10 year old Sanjay Gope. In a report dated 9 July Bloomberg showed the conditions in which this child lives: after a series of attacks and seizures that no one was able to explain, his arms and legs became deformed, leaving him unable to walk. Without help from someone, his grandfather says "he can only crawl on the ground like a snake." One of his older sisters, Sunita, died two years ago at age 13. Just like her little brother, her limbs grew deformed to the point of not being able to feed or wash herself.

Across the street leading to Sanjay's house, Rakesh Gope - of the same tribe but no relation - sits on a dirty floor, moving his hands in continuous spasms. He is also 10, and like Sanjay is not able to walk alone.

In response to a High Court order, the Uranium Corp. filed an affidavit of 337 pages, which denies all liability. The document includes a survey of the Jharkhand State Pollution Board (JSPB), conducted from 2010 to 2012 in 16 villages comprising 4,557 examinations of children and adults who did not report congenital malformations.

Commenting on the survey results Mahendra Mahto, JSPB secretary, wrote: "The villagers suffer from conventional health problems, which could be seen in any village with similar socio-economic condition". The survey wasn't signed by Mahto but by Dr. U.K. Majhee -- identified as Uranium Corp.'s chief medical officer at its Jadugora hospital. When contacted by Bloomberg he declined to be interviewed  because he didn't have the study in front of him. "Unless I see the document, how can I say what I have said and what I have not?" he said.

It seems almost impossible to find answers to the living conditions of many families in Jadugoda and its surroundings. What is certain, however, is that the water of three Uranium Corp, waste pools containing uranium, flows into the River Race. The course runs near Jadugoda and several other villages and is used every day by the people to fish and swim.

Some water samples collected in 2008 by the Jharkhandi Organization Against Radiation and analyzed by the Centre for Science and Environment, have revealed the presence of heavy metals. In particular, the samples - from drinking water wells - contained levels of mercury at 200% above the allowed minimum, and lead values 600% over the norm. Lead is a byproduct of the extraction of uranium, mercury is not. In any case, the central government has not initiated any investigation to trace the source of these toxic elements.

 

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