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Kidney disease: WHO report goes to Cabinet; UNP alleges cover-up
View(s):By Kumudini Hettiarachchi
A joint World Health Organisation-Sri Lanka Government study which has raised serious issues over a mysterious kidney disease felling farmers in the country’s dry zone will be submitted to Cabinet on Thursday and follow-up action taken, Health Minister Maithripala Sirisena said yesterday. The Cabinet would discuss the report and decide on the course of action, after which it would be made public, the Minister told the Sunday Times.
Asked when the Minister got the WHO final report, he said it was a week ago. The Government action and questions in Parliament earlier this week come on the back of a Sunday Times news report last week whether the trigger of the Chronic Kidney Disease of Uncertain Aetiology (CKDu) is now in the food chain.
The levels of the heavy metals, cadmium and lead, in vegetables in the CKDu-endemic areas, as well as the level of cadmium in fresh water fish were above the maximum levels stipulated by certain authorities, the WHO report on the ‘Investigation and Evaluation of CKDu in Sri Lanka’ has found.
The main findings of the report, published in the Sunday Times were that “chronic exposure to low levels of cadmium may be playing a role in the causation of CKDu in Sri Lanka” while “co-exposure to arsenic is likely to aggravate the effect of cadmium on the kidney making the changes more pronounced than exposure to cadmium alone”. Another factor the report dealt with was that low selenium levels may have been contributory in increasing the susceptibility of the kidneys to damage by heavy metals and metalloids.
“Why is the Government attempting to cover-up the WHO report,” asked United National Party Anuradhapura district Parliamentarian P. Harrison, when contacted by the Sunday Times.
Stressing the urgent need to strictly regulate fertiliser and agrochemicals, as recommended by the report, the MP who on Friday raised questions in Parliament on the issue, said that CKDu was leading to the collapse of the social and economic structure of the North Central Province.
Critical of the lethargy of the Government, even after five reports including the final report from the WHO, he was of the view that heavy metals such as cadmium and arsenic which seemed to be paving the way for CKDu were getting into the system through the use of fertiliser and agrochemicals. He alleged that the fertiliser and agrochemicals which were mainly imported from China and Latin America were substandard and of poor quality.
Referring to facilities available to keep CKDu patients alive, Mr. Harrison said, “Although Anuradhapura Hospital has 23 dialysis machines only 13 are working; Padaviya Hospital has one dialysis machine but no staff to carry out dialysis; Polonnaruwa Hospital has six machines but only four are working and Medawachchiya Hospital does not have a single dialysis machine.”
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