But at what cost

Burden 3
Economic Growth has A Price Tag

People need to be aware of the green themes in vogue today, like-sustainable development-carbon foot print – genuine progress indicators-or green growth. It guides them to resolve the dilemma as to how to sustain the earth 6+ billion population on the limited resources of planet earth.

The people the world over are aware, that the unlimited growth paradigm is faulted, and unsustainable. The effect of this growth pattern, on our enviorment over the later half of the last century, has been disastrous, it is visible to all in their own surroundings and globally in global warming and climate change.

Conventional wisdom has not acknowledged this truism
so far, the march towards economic growth is in full swing and is our national goal.
It is suspected by many that this inexorable march has led to a large scale crisis of confidence in governance, some of this has overflowed into lack of confidence in the market and consumerism

This has also laid bare and exposed the financial institutions to scrutiny, revealing their resources overstretched conditions and their failed state.
Pollution
To strengthen these points a review of the components of our environment reveals the effects of unsustainable growth and the resulting disease burden as an outcome.

Pollutants contaminate the external environment (air and water) and enter the Food chain (plant and animal life).
The internal environment of the human body communicates with the external environment through the respiratory and gastro-intestinal systems. The contaminants in air, water and food are absorbed and find their way into body fluids and cells. The result are:
· Damage to the cell membrane (the outer wall of the cell), which slows transfer of nutrients into the cell and waste matter out of the cell,
· Damage to the enzyme systems within the cell, and slows cell function.
· Damage to the nucleus and genetic material – this may affect cell dividing or heredity in germ cells.@

Estimates indicate that the proportion of the global burden of disease associated with environmental pollution hazards ranges from 23 percent (WHO 1997) to 30 percent (Smith, Corvalan, and Kjellstrom 1999).

These estimates include:

- Infections diseases related to drinking water, sanitation, and food hygiene;
- Respiratory diseases related to severe indoor air pollution from biomass burning;
- Vector borne diseases with a major environmental component, such as malaria.

These three types of diseases each contribute approximately 6 percent to the updated estimate of the global burden of disease (WHO 2002).

Outdoor air pollution (industry and fossil fuels) result in 0.6 to 1.4 percent of the burden of disease in developing regions, and other pollution, such as lead in water, air and soil, may contribute 0.9 percent (WHO 2002)

Health Burden

Long term studies have documented the increased cardiovascular and respiratory mortality associated with exposure to particulate matter. A 16 year follow-up of a cohort of 500,000 Americans living in different cities found that the associations were strongest with PM2.5 (2.5 microns) and also established an association with lung cancer mortality.

Such studies indicate that the mortality increase for every 10 micrograms per cubic meter (µg per m3) or PM2.5 ranges from 4 to 8 percent for cities in developed countries where average annual PM2.5 levels are 10 to 30 µg/m3. Many urban areas of developing countries have similar or greater levels of air pollution.

Water Pollution

The major pollution of surface water is result of drains and sewage being discharged in our rivers. This a major cause of health hazards for those living own stream.

Chemical pollution of surface water can create health risks, because such waterways are often used directly as drinking water sources or connected with shallow wells used for drinking water.
In addition, waterways have important roles for washing and cleaning, for fishing and fish farming, and for recreation. Thus all these pollutants can enter in our food chain.

Another major source of drinking water is groundwater, which often has low concentrations of pathogens because the water is filtered during its transit through underground layers of sand, clay, or rocks.
However, toxic chemicals such as arsenic and fluoride can be dissolved from the soil or rock layers into groundwater.
Direct contamination can also occur from badly designed hazardous waste sites or from industrial sites (in developing countries).
There is a need to monitor hazardous waste disposal and Protection River and Waterways.

Coastal pollution of seawater may give rise to health hazards because of local contamination of fish or shellfish-for instance, the mercury contamination of fish in the infamous Minamoto disease outbreak in Japan in 1956 (WHO 1976)
Seawater pollution with chemicals, such as poly chlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and dioxins, can also be a significant health hazard even at extremely low concentrations (Yassi and others 2001)

Health Effects
No published estimates are available of the global burden of disease resulting from water pollution. Acute exposure to contaminants in drinking water can cause irritation or inflammation of the eyes and nose, skin, and gastrointestinal system; however, the most important health effects are due to chronic exposure (for example, liver toxicity) to copper, arsenic, or chromium in water.
Excretion of chemicals through the kidney targets the kidney for toxic effects, as seen with chemicals such as cadmium, copper, mercury, and chlorobenzene (WHO 2003)

Pesticides and other chemical contaminants that enter waterways through agricultural runoff, storm water drains, and industrial discharges may persist in the environment for long periods and be transported by water or air over long distances.

Pollution due to human waste has resulted in increased water borne disease among population using raw river water.

Climate Change and health
A number of health problems are expected as a result of climate change, the World Health Organisation, said countries like India would see an increase in vector and water-borne diseases especially in the northern region as a result of global warming.
"The window of transmission for a disease like malaria would increase by nearly three months. Other vector-borne diseases would see a rise in northern region of the country,"
Emphasising on the "serious and damaging effects" of climate change on human health, WHO said, "Air quality will suffer greatly and respiratory diseases will increase". "Heat waves will be more intense and of longer duration, mainly affecting the most vulnerable populations, the children, elderly and the poor through heat strokes and cardiovascular complications,"
The six health outcomes which are likely to be affected by climate change in the region are - respiratory diseases, vector-borne diseases, water-borne diseases, malnutrition, injuries and psychological stress.
The majority of the diseases would be a result of changing rain patterns due to melting of glaciers and resultant natural calamities like floods and cyclones.


TRITIUM from Nuclear Power Plants: Its Biological Hazards
India has a major programme for energy generation using nuclear plants. This program will install a number of high value assets in a density populated country. These plants will be subject to
a) Pilferage of Nuclear material
b) Sabotage
c) Acts of terrorism
All these three scenarios entail radiation hazards for the unsuspecting unaware population.
Tritium is the fourth unavoidable source of radiation hazards
Nuclear power plants routinely and accidentally release tritium into the air and water as a gas (HT) or as water (HTO or 3HOH). No economically feasible technology exists to filter tritium from a nuclear power plant’s gaseous and liquid emissions to the environment.
Therefore, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission does not require that it be filtered.
Tritium has a half-life of 12.3 years. A radioactive material gives off hazardous radiation for at least ten half-lives.
Tritium emits radioactive beta particles. Once tritium is inhaled or swallowed, its beta particles can bombard cells. If a particle zaps a DNA molecule in a cell, it can cause a mutation. If it mutates a gene important to cell function, a serious disease may result.
Just as water containing ordinary hydrogen and oxygen is a component of all living cells, tritiated water can also be incorporated into the cells of the body.
Tritium incorporated into the DNA of plants and animals is referred to as organically bound tritium (OBT). Organically bound tritium can deliver damaging radiation doses for a much longer time than ingested tritiated water or inhaled tritiated water vapour.
Research indicates that tritium can remain in the human body for more than ten years.
Routine releases and accidental spills of tritium from nuclear power plants pose a growing health and safety concern.
Exposure to tritium has been clinically proven to cause cancer, genetic mutations and birth defects in laboratory animals. In studies conducted by Lawrence Livermore Laboratory in 1991, a comprehensive review of the carcinogenic, mutagenic and teratogenic effects of tritium exposure revealed that tritium packs 1.5 to 5 times more relative biological effectiveness (RBE), or biological change per unit of radiation (one rad or 0.01 Gray), than gamma radiation or X-rays.


The burden on health is heavy as result of industry and growth economics.

The quest for economic growth needs to enlarge the ambit of its database it needs to aim for more sustainable and universal objectives.
It needs to calculate the cost/benefits equation of projects impartially and honestly bearing faith to the interest of aam aadmi(common man). A greater national efforts and native, scientific ingenuity is needed to limit the cost component of this equation for greater benefit of the citizen and his environment.

The public health care system needs to be functional and responsive to the changing needs of the population it servers.
Many of our health disasters can be contained by planning in advance, parallel with planning for economic growth.
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Informed self care published Orient black Swan ISBN 81 250 1961 8 2001 for more information on Pollution & Radiation hazards
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