CADMIUM-POLLUTED SOIL
ABNORMALLY HIGH levels of the toxic substance, cadmium, have been found in the soil of central Jamaica by the research team at the International Centre for Environmental and Nuclear Sciences (ICENS).
Professor Gerald Lalor, ICENS director-general, recently told medical doctors and other health professionals attending the Medical Association of Jamaica's Mike D'Silva symposium, that he was puzzled that these abnormally high levels of cadmium-polluted soil were not being accompanied by high death rates here.
"Here is the stuff, which according to (international researchers) should be giving plenty of trouble, but I can't find the dead people... So we are now putting together a package with some specialists in diabetes, kidney disease and so on, to do further investigation and we are collecting urine samples," he said.
Internationally, soil containing two or three parts per million (ppm) of cadmium would be considered highly polluted but Professor Lalor indicated that he and his team have identified levels way above that in central Jamaica. These high levels of cadmium-polluted soil, he described as completely different from anything found in the literature and even higher than contaminated sites in other parts of the world.
"It has to be in the food because it is in the soil. And we managed to get some autopsy cases from the hospital (it is published now in the West Indian Medical Journal); we looked at the kidneys of persons who, as far as we know, were not residents in Central Jamaica for any period of time, and you just look at the data and say, my God, Jamaicans have plenty cadmium in their kidneys...The problem is so important that more studies need to be done," he said.
Further studies on the impact of cadmium on local health, Professor Lalor said, should investigate possible links to prevalent health conditions such as kidney disease, prostate cancer and cardiac disease.
Cadmium occurs naturally in the environment air, water, soil, foodstuff mainly as a result of gradual phenomena such as rock erosion and abrasion and volcanic eruptions. In reviewing its impact on human health, scientists note that it accumulates mainly in one specific organ the kidneys and at high ingestion level can lead to kidney failure.
Professor Lalor also said that ICENS researchers were finding other toxic substances in Jamaican soil such as lead and arsenic. A lot of work has already been done to clean up toxic lead in contaminated areas such as Kintyre Basic School in St. Andrew. Arsenic, which the scientist described as the greatest global environmental problem, though plentiful in Jamaican environment, is tightly locked in the soil and is therefore not entering the food chain.
OUR MOTHER'S WOMB
Peter Espeut, Executive Director, Caribbean Coastal Area Management Foundation, in his contribution to the topic of the impact of the environment on human health said that the environment is our
mother.
"We live and grow in our mother's womb and we get water and oxygen but we live and grow in the womb of the planet much longer... we are the environment," he said.
He pointed to the impact of global warming on human health noting that many disease-carrying organisms bacteria, viruses, fungi thrive with only slight changes in global temperature.
He also said that the continued use of POPs (Persistent Organic Pollutants) posed a threat to the human health and have been linked to conditions such as lymphomas and myelomas. The 'dirty dozen', a listing of dangerous organic pollutants including DDT one of the most serious of them, was also mentioned by Mr. Espeut. He said that DDT's elimination appears to be a long-term goal especially as cases malaria increases and more DDT is being used to kill the mosquitoes that cause the malaria.
BAUXITE EMISSIONS
Patrece Charles-Freeman, Medical Administrator, Food for the Poor, reviewed the impact of emissions from the bauxite companies on the health of people living in communities around the companies. Presenting the findings of her Ph.D. thesis, she said that PM10 emissions in communities in close proximity to the studied bauxite factories exceeded acceptable levels. Mrs. Charles-Freeman was able to link the prevalence of diseases such as sinusitis and asthma to industrial air pollution from the bauxite industry, noting that more of the people living closest to the plants (one to three miles) complained of sinusitis with the incidence declining among those living further away from the plants.
INDUSTRIAL POLLUTANTS
David Barrett, environmental coordinator, Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica (PCJ), pointed to the greater role which industry should play in protecting the environment.
"Industry is a major source of pollutants. Fortunately with new environmental standards industries are seeking to be more efficient in recycling their effluents. The larger ones are oftentimes better at doing that because of their financial resources, unfortunately there are the small ones... probably more small ones are putting effluent out than there are large ones which are being monitored most of the times," he said.
Mr. Barrett said that in some cases industry is generating economic benefits but not recognising that the effluents are damaging needed resources.
FOOD-BORNE ILLNESSES
Dr. Andre Gordon, managing director, CEO, Technology Solutions Ltd., said that the U.S. sees about 75 million cases of foodborne illnesses each year and the Centre for Disease Control (CDC) said that this is costing between U.S.$7.7 and 23 billion each year.
"The safety of food is directly related to the environment where the food is grown, raw material used (inputs), the plant where food is produced and handled, the distribution chain, storage, preparation environments," Dr. Gordon.
He said that the incidence of food-borne illnesses in Jamaica is fairly high, though the data collection is poor. Based on information from Travellers' Digest, Dr. Gordon said that about 25 per cent of visitors to Jamaica became ill from food consumed in Jamaica. Food-borne illnesses include ecoli,
salmonella, Hepatitis A, E and rotaviruses.
Send comments and questions to eulalee.thompson@gleanerjm.com.
