New Delhi: A study by doctors at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has confirmed that nearly 35 of 216 patients who were referred to its Clinical Ecotoxicology (Diagnostic and Research) Facility by its various departments had “excessive” amounts of heavy metals and toxins in their bodies.
Those investigated came from all over the country, having been referred to the facility after their diagnoses at other departments appeared vague.
“The amount of heavy metals we detected in patients’ bodies were above the permissible limits and will need further investigation. Our clinic aims to find the source that causes abnormal results like this,” Dr A. Shariff, founder of the facility, told ThePrint.
The most common heavy metals that were found in excess amounts included iron, mercury, lead, chromium and fluoride. In high quantities, these elements are responsible for various cancers, congenital neurological disorders, bone disease and inflammation of the nasal cavities, among other serious conditions.
“We’ve started getting cases of people with liver cirrhosis who had never touched alcohol in their lives. There are also cases of people developing lung cancer when they don’t smoke. We’d like to study peculiar cases like these to see if their environment or source of water is the cause,” said Dr Javed A. Quadri, the manager of the ecotoxicology facility.
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Focus on vulnerable communities
In addition to testing those who have been referred to the clinic by other departments of AIIMS, the facility will also conduct field studies on communities that are most affected by climate change.
In Bihar, for example, the clinic is currently overseeing a pilot project in three districts whose populations have been suffering from skeletal fluorosis — a condition induced by excess fluoride accumulating in the bones, causing pain and damage.
“Because of a steady decline in water tables of the districts, the amount of fluoride in its water bodies has shot up. Whole villages are relying on that water, and the high concentrations of fluoride have damaged their bones,” Shariff said.
On 12 September, the clinic had, with funding from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), installed two filters in handpumps at Radhe Bigha village in Bihar’s Nawada district to significantly reduce fluoride intake – from the current 8-10 parts per million (ppm) to 0.005ppm. The permissible limit is less than 1 ppm of fluoride.
“We have only installed two filters for now, but it is expected to benefit 100 people. Eight more have been sanctioned and will be installed soon,” said Quadri.
Another project in the pipeline is to study the effects of environmental change on women in agriculture. “Men migrate out of villages to find work, leaving behind their wives and children who are worst affected by changing climates, because they are also severely malnourished. There’s no data or concrete research available on types of exposure and diseases that can arise from it, and we would like to begin there,” Quadri added.
Shariff and Quadri also stressed that this project was especially important because fewer women — especially those in their reproductive years — than men were taken to hospitals for treatment. The DST is yet to sanction this project, which will also take place in four to five districts of Bihar.
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‘Diagnoses can change generations’
The facility has applied for funds to buy additional equipment that can detect the effects of air pollution and organic chemicals such as pesticides in human bodies.
“Humans not going to stop polluting and climate change isn’t going to come to a halt any time soon. But this kind of diagnoses can change generations: If a water or food source is contaminated, and we tell patients that it is harmful to their children, they are likely to make stronger demands from the government,” said Shariff.
According to a report by The Lancet, climate change and pollution are responsible for 9 million deaths worldwide, 92 per cent of which occur in low and middle-income countries like India. Shariff and Quadri hope that the AIIMS’ clinic will also motivate other hospitals to come up with similar facilities.
“With pollution on the rise, and so many gaps in our understanding of how it can change peoples’ health, such research is the need of the hour,” said Quadri.
The ecotoxicology clinic, a first in India, was inaugurated on 5 August this year to study the effects of rising pollution and climate change on human health. It investigates increasing cases of diseases resulting from exposure to environmental toxins contaminating water, food and air. The clinic also runs tests on patients who show symptoms of illness with unknown causes.
With its own diagnostic method, this clinic can test nine types of samples – including urine, blood and sources of water – for nearly every element in the periodic table, from copper to uranium.
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