SOS Arsenic Bangladesh

Arsenic_contamination_of_groundwater

www.bhopal.org

www.sos-arsenic.net

www.deutsch-bengalische.org

www.bhopal.com

The Bhopal disaster or Bhopal Gas Tragedy is the world’s worst industrial catastrophe. It occurred on the night of December 2-3, 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India. UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of Union Carbide Corporation (UCC). Indian Government controlled banks and the Indian public held a 49.1 percent ownership share. In 1994, the Supreme Court of India allowed UCC to sell its 50.9 percent share. The Bhopal plant was sold to McLeod Russel (India) Ltd. UCC is now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company. A leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of several thousands of people. A leak of methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals from the plant resulted in the exposure of several thousands of people. Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release. Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths. Others estimate that 8,000 died within the first weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases.

“ C L E A N   U P “ : Chemicals (~390 tons) abandoned at the plant continue to leak and pollute the groundwater. Whether the chemicals pose a health hazard is disputed.  Read More: > HERE <

The Sambhavna Trust is a charitable trust run by a group of eminent doctors, scientists, writers and social workers who have been involved with various aspects of the Union Carbide disaster ever since its occurrence in December 1984. The Chairperson of Sambhavna, Dr. PM Bhargava, was awarded the „Padma Bhushan“ by the President of India in 1986 and the „Legion d’Honneur“ in 1998 by the French government for his scientific and social contributions. Dr. H H Trivedi, former Professor at the Gandhi Medical College and Satinath Sarangi are the two Bhopal based trustees of Sambhavna.

Many are unaware that the disaster in Bhopal continues to this day. An estimated 120,000-150,000 survivors of the disaster are still chronically ill. Over 23,000 have died of exposure-related illnesses and more are dying still. Tens of thousands of children born after the disaster suffer from growth problems and far too many teenaged women suffer from menstrual disorders. TB is several times more prevalent in the gas-affected population and cancers are on the rise.

The Bhopal Medical Appeal was launched in 1994, when a man from Bhopal came to Britain to tell whoever would listen about the calamitous condition of the still suffering victims of the Union Carbide gas disaster. Those who met him learned that after ten years, the survivors had received no meaningful medical help. (Unless one is prepared to accept that aspirin is a cure-all for the dreadful illnesses visited on them.)

The survivors realised that they must help themselves, because nobody else would. They wanted to open their own free clinic for gas victims. They were joined in the UK by a few individuals who put the mechanics of the Appeal together. They were in turn joined in this effort by other like minded people. Our newsletter is called 777. The name arose from an attempt to capture the spirit of the Appeal. Someone suggested, ’saat, saat, saat‘, which in Hindi means ‚together, together, together‘, but with a slight twist of the tongue could also mean ’seven, seven, seven.‘ ‚We‘ means all of us, all together.

BhopalMedicalAppeal /Arsen Water Myanmar/Arsen Water Pakistan

Thirty years ago, Bangladeshi villages began pumping arsenic-laced water in a development project gone awry. Why will it take another 30 years to halt the biggest mass poisoning in history?

The story beggars belief. In the 1970s, international agencies headed by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) began pumping millions of dollars of aid money into Bangladesh for tubewells to provide “clean” drinking water. According to the World Health Organization, the direct result has been the biggest outbreak of mass poisoning in history. Up to half the country’s tubewells, now estimated to number 10 million, are poisoned. Tens, perhaps hundreds of thousands will die.

Why? Because nobody tested for the natural poison, arsenic, widely found in underground water. And when a doctor did find traces of the metal, and when Bangladeshi villagers did start turning up at doctors’ surgeries with the tumours and telltale signs of arsenic poisoning, the results were swiftly buried so that nobody made the connection.
Even now as the scale of the calamity emerges, nobody is admitting culpability. Not UNICEF, which initiated the tubewells programme and paid for the first 900,000 wells, nor the WORLD BANK, a fellow sponsor. Not the Bangladeshi government, or the foreign engineers and public health scientists who did not think to test the water for so long.

Arsenic contamination of groundwater is (not always natural!) a natural occurring high concentration of arsenic in deeper levels of groundwater, which became a high-profile problem in recent years due to the use of deep tubewells for water supply in the Ganges Delta, causing serious arsenic poisoning to large numbers of people. A 2007 study found that over 137 million people in more than 70 countries are probably affected by arsenic poisoning of drinking water.

Arsenic contamination of ground water is found in many countries throughout the world, including the USA. Approximately 20 incidents of groundwater arsenic contamination have been reported from all over the world. Of these, four major incidents were in Asia, including locations in Thailand, Taiwan, and Mainland China. South American countries like Argentina and Chile have also been affected. There are also many locations in the United States where the groundwater contains arsenic concentrations in excess of the Environmental Protection Agency standard of 10 parts per billion adopted in 2001.

Arsenic Catastrophe in Bangladesh: Project To Support the Poorest Rural Population in Bangladesh, Enhance Environmental Consciousness, Regain Traditional Wisdom. and Cultural Heritage . The people will invent more methods and survival strategies, if we really want to survive and refuse vested business interests of many western countries offering inadequate and expensive technologies. We need your help to make this extraordinary project a success. Every step of the project will be accompanied with on-line reports on this page, which will enhance your active participation.

Our goal is to help these people  help themselves escape death. By the people, for the people,  using simple, affordable methods….You can help by donating any amount: One arsenic free well costs less than 100 EUR – just donate 1 EUR. Solidarity for the poor- Also for Recent Cyclone Disastor: www.sos-arsenic.net

charkha

 

 

 

It seemed like a good idea—because rivers and ponds in Bangladesh were contaminated with bacteria, Bangladeshis switched to wells. But soon after, in the early ‘80s, researchers realized those wells were harming Bangladeshis with a new poison—arsenic.

Surface waters receive pollutants from agricultural, industrial, domestic and municipal sources. Concentration of silt content in turbulent water in the monsoon is high. Similarly algal growth in stagnant water bodies in the dry season is also very high. Insanitary practices of people have greatly contributed to the deterioration of quality of surface water sources.
http://www.deutsch-bengalische.org/assets/SEWA-ARP_ArsenReductionProgram_DE.pdf

WATER CORRUPTION TO POLITICIANS – Transparency International in a report published Thursday blamed corruption in Bangladesh’s water sector partly on politicians. „Influential persons with political links with the help of engineers and other officials get involved in corruption in irrigation, river dredging and flood prevention projects,“ the TI said in its Global Corruption Report 2008: Corruption in the Water Sector. Encroachment on lakes and rivers flowing through urban areas, especially in Dhaka, was common, it said.

„Officials in Rajuk often allegedly collude with land grabbers, which is the main reason for the failure to demarcate, develop and conserve water bodies crucial for Dhaka’s environment, water supply and drainage.“ The report was simultaneously launched in Dhaka, Berlin and London. The TI report said fighting corruption in the water sector was urgent to deal with climate change and increasing stress on water supply around the world.
Nearly 1.2 billion people in the world do not have guaranteed access to water and more than 2.6 billion are without adequate sanitation. In developing countries, about 80 percent of health problems can be linked back to inadequate water and sanitation. At the report launch ceremony in CIRDAP auditorium in Dhaka, Professor Muzaffer Ahmad, chairman of the TIB’s board of trustees, said local government, public works, land, shipping, industry, agriculture and water resources ministries were involved in corruption relating to water.

Up to 50 percent of the money allocated for the water sector goes in systems losses, he said. Ahmad said there were 1,300 rivers in the country, but only 107 rivers are available in dry season. „Rivers are dying due to mismanagement.“

Bangladesh has 54 cross-border rivers, but there is only one river agreement on Padma waters. Ahmad said the government policy over the cross-border rivers was not clear. He suggested an agreement be signed with India, Nepal, Bhutan and China over river management.

TI Global Corruption Report 2008 argues that the crisis of water is a crisis of water governance, with corruption as one of the root causes. According to the report, the need to adapt to climate change made the water sector more vulnerable to corruption. „In developing countries, corruption is estimated to raise prices for connecting a household to a water network by as much as 30 percent. This inflates the overall costs for achieving the MDGs for water and sanitation by ore than $48 billion,“ the report said(Independent, June 28, 2008).
http://www.sos-arsenic.net/english/groundwater/index.html
http://www.transparency.org/

SOS ARSENIC POISONING IN BANGLADESH / INDIA. Private Iniciative against Poisoning of Ground Water in Bangladesh. HE WORLD’S POOREST POPULATION IN BANGLADESH, ARE SUFFERING FROM ARSENIC POISONING, SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENT DEGRADATION.
Menschliche Ökologie – Die schreckliche Wahrheit über Arsen: Bangladesh ringt mit der größten Massenvergiftung einer Population in der Geschichte…das Ausmaß dieses Umweltdesasters ist größer als jedes andere zuvor”, meinte Allan H. Smith, renommierter Wissenschaftler, Berater der Weltgesundheitsorganisation (WHO) und Professor für Epidemiologie an der University of California in Berkeley.
Wilson meint: „Die Katastrophe in Bangladesh hätte nicht passieren müssen und kann daher als genauso menschlich herbei geführt angesehen werden wie Tschernobyl.” Gelegen in der Deltaregion des Ganges und Brahamaputra, wird Bangladesh häufig durch diese zwei Flüsse oder durch Zyklone, die aus der Bengalischen Bucht kommen, verwüstet. Innerhalb von 52.000 Quadratmeilen (ungefähr die Größe vom Bundesstaat Louisiana) liegt eine der am dichtesten besiedelten Regionen weltweit; ca. 2.308 Menschen leben hier auf einer Quadratmeile. Dies ist ebenfalls eine der ärmsten Regionen der Welt mit einem Pro-Kopf-Einkommen von $470 im Jahr 2005, im Vergleich zu $43.740 in den USA zur selben Zeit. Die Menschen des Landes sind aufgrund des unhygienischen, dreckigen, bakterienverseuchten Oberflächenwassers, das sie trinken, weiteren Miseren ausgesetzt, da das Wasser epidemischen Durchfall, Cholera und andere Gesundheitsprobleme verursacht.
Um für die Bevölkerung in Bangladesh sauberes Wasser zu beschaffen, wurden ironischerweise in den 70er und 80er Jahren Grundwasserbrunnen („Rohrbrunnen”), auf Empfehlung von Weltorganisationen, der Weltbank WORLDBANK und dem „BRITISH GEOLOGICAL SURVEY“. Es schien einfacher als die Behandlung des Oberflächenwassers, meist mit Chlor, wie man es die letzten 150 Jahre in der entwickelten Welt gemacht hatte. Anscheinend sah das Brunnenwasser sauber aus, doch in den meisten Fällen enthielt es das unsichtbare, geruchslose Gift: Arsen. Nachdem das Wasser für mehr als ein Jahrzehnt konsumiert wurde, entwickelten Tausende Symptome einer Arsenvergiftung. Grundwasserkontamination wurde zuerst vor 25 Jahren in West Bengalen entdeckt, doch erst 1993 im nordöstlichen Teil von Bangladesh, teilte das „Department of Public Health Engineering” in Bangladesh mit. Wilson erklärte: „Zehn Millionen Rohrbrunnen wurden gegraben, bevor ernsthaft nach Arsen gesucht wurde….

http://centerforabetterlife.com/deu/magazine/article_detail.lasso?id=58&-session=user_pref%3A42F94185162552C0BCSYoy15F139
ARSEN IN WATER , ARSEN IN RICE: http://www.heise.de/tp/r4/artikel/18/18958/1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Worldbank
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_Geological_Survey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Health_Organization

Bangladesh one of the poorest and most densely populated countries in the world, is beset by floods, tidal storms, famine and disease (outbreak of new disases such as malaria and dengu fever). Green revolution added many new diseases such as fungal Infection from irri rice blinds eyes.

The arsenic hazard in Bangladesh villagers now appeared as a ‘real disaster‘, affecting thousands physically, physiologically, mentally and economically; it is intensifying malnutrition, poverty and destitution among the already poor villagers.
our studes show that farmers are adding arsenic 20- 30 mg/kg “ arsenic and a very high amount of uranium“ as fertiliser to soil two to three times a year (2-3 crops, mainly rice) since more than two decades possibly caused ground water contamination. We demand for a free treatment and migration of 1 million population of Bangladesh to industrial countries, who directed our agricultural poilicy and exported pesticides and fertiliser (Polluters Pay Principle).