Uranium poisoning in Punjab made news in 2009 when South African metal toxicologist Carin Smit ordered tests to be performed on children at Baba Farid Center For Special Children (BFCSC), a centre for children with

autism The autism spectrum, often referred to as just autism or in the context of a professional diagnosis autism spectrum disorder (ASD) or autism spectrum condition (ASC), is a neurodevelopmental condition (or conditions) characterized by difficulti ...

cerebral palsy Cerebral palsy (CP) is a group of movement disorders that appear in early childhood. Signs and symptoms vary among people and over time, but include poor coordination, stiff muscles, weak muscles, and tremors. There may be problems with sensa ...

, and other

neurological disorders A neurological disorder is any disorder of the nervous system. Structural, biochemical or electrical abnormalities in the brain, spinal cord or other nerves can result in a range of symptoms. Examples of symptoms include paralysis, muscle weakness ...

Faridkot, Punjab Faridkot is a city in the South-western part of state of Punjab, India. It serves as the headquarters for both, the Faridkot district. as well as the Faridkot Division. The division was established in 1995 at Faridkot which includes Faridkot, B ...

. Lab tests found high levels of uranium in local children. Environmental tests found that Punjab's groundwater, especially that near ash ponds, had high levels of uranium.

History

In 1995,

Guru Nanak Dev University The university is Entitled by University Grants Commission to offer higher studies degree courses online. Guru Nanak Dev University's campus is spread over near village of Kot Khalsa, nearly west of the Amritsar, next to Khalsa College, A ...

(GNDU) released a report showing the presence of uranium and other heavy metals beyond permissible limits in water samples collected from

Bathinda Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda District. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa Region, west of the capital city of Chandigarh and is the fifth l ...

and

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

districts. There was no response from the government at that time. The hotspot for this increased toxicity was the

Malwa region Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...

of Punjab, which showed extremely high levels of chemical, biological and radioactive toxicity, including uranium contamination. As the region's groundwater and food chain was gradually contaminated by industrial effluents flowing into fresh water sources used both for irrigation and drinking purposes, the region showed a rise in neurological diseases, and a sharp increase in cancer cases and kidney ailments. In

Muktsar district Sri Muktsar Sahib district, colloquially known by the city's former name Muktsar; is one of the 23 districts in the Indian state of Punjab. The city was renamed from Muktsar to Sri Muktsar Sahib. The district itself was historically referred as ...

between 2001 and 2009, 1,074 people died of cancer. In March 2008, South African clinical metal toxicologist Carin Smit visited the Baba Farid Center For Special Children (BFCSC), a Faridkot-based not-for-profit organization working with children with

, and other

. Smit requested laboratory tests from MicroTrace Minerals, a laboratory in Germany. In April 2009, Smit reported that MicroTrace Minerals found high levels of uranium in hair samples of BFCSC children. After news broke of these tests, ''

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are popular names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaide, South Australia, publ ...

'' reported that healthcare workers had "suspected that children were being slowly poisoned" for years, and that workers in Faridkot and

began to voice concerns when they saw an increase in admissions of severely disabled children with birth defects like

hydrocephaly Hydrocephalus is a condition in which an accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) occurs within the brain. This typically causes increased pressure inside the skull. Older people may have headaches, double vision, poor balance, urinary inco ...

microcephaly Microcephaly (from New Latin ''microcephalia'', from Ancient Greek μικρός ''mikrós'' "small" and κεφαλή ''kephalé'' "head") is a medical condition involving a smaller-than-normal head. Microcephaly may be present at birth or it ...

Down's syndrome Down syndrome or Down's syndrome, also known as trisomy 21, is a genetic disorder caused by the presence of all or part of a third copy of chromosome 21. It is usually associated with physical growth delays, mild to moderate intellectual disa ...

, and other physical and mental abnormalities. Smit and BFCSC continued testing children at the centre. In 2010, Smit reported that MicroTrace Minerals found high uranium levels in 87% of BFCSC children younger than 12 years and 82% of older BFCSC children. Subsequent

ground water Groundwater is the water present beneath Earth's surface in rock and soil pore spaces and in the fractures of rock formations. About 30 percent of all readily available freshwater in the world is groundwater. A unit of rock or an unconsolidated ...

tests displayed levels of uranium as high as 224 micrograms per litre (μg/L). Samples taken in the vicinity of the coal-fired power plants were up to 15 times the

World Health Organization The World Health Organization (WHO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for international public health. The WHO Constitution states its main objective as "the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of h ...

's maximum safe limits, and that contamination extended across the state of Punjab. In 2010, water samples taken from

Buddha Nullah Budha Nullah or Budha Naala ( pa, ਬੁੱਢਾ ਨਾਲ਼ਾ) is a seasonal water stream, which runs through the Malwa region of Punjab, India, and after passing through highly populated Ludhiana district, Punjab, India, it drains into Sutle ...

, a highly polluted water canal which merges into the

Sutlej River The Sutlej or Satluj River () is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroads region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. The Sutlej River is also known as ''Satadru''. It is the easternmost tributary of the Ind ...

, showed high heavy metal content and the presence of uranium 1.5 times the reference range.

Response

In April 2009, the government of Punjab ordered a probe into the matter, and a series of tests with the

Bhabha Atomic Research Centre The Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC) is India's premier nuclear research facility, headquartered in Trombay, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. It was founded by Homi Jehangir Bhabha as the Atomic Energy Establishment, Trombay (AEET) in January 195 ...

were conducted. Discussing the tests, civil surgeon Vivek Jain said, "there is no side effect of uranium ..and the levels are very much below the levels. So that can't cause any mental retardation or any abnormality." The government attributed abnormalities to genetic disorders. Local media blamed the government for not monitoring the environmental impact of ash ponds and the lack of proper study of the prevalent uranium contamination in the region. MicroTrace Minerals continued testing cancer patients living in the Malwa region of Punjab, the area known for having the highest cancer rate in India.

Possible causes

A 2009 ''

The Observer ''The Observer'' is a British newspaper published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to ''The Guardian'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', whose parent company Guardian Media Group Limited acquired it in 1993. First published in 1791, it is the w ...

'' investigation found that the possible cause of soil and groundwater contamination in

Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also syno ...

was

fly ash Fly ash, flue ash, coal ash, or pulverised fuel ash (in the UK) plurale tantum: coal combustion residuals (CCRs)is a coal combustion product that is composed of the particulates (fine particles of burned fuel) that are driven out of coal-fired ...

from coal burnt at

thermal power A thermal power station is a type of power station in which heat energy In thermodynamics, heat is defined as the form of energy crossing the boundary of a thermodynamic system by virtue of a temperature difference across the boundary ...

plants, which contains high levels of

uranium Uranium is a chemical element with the symbol U and atomic number 92. It is a silvery-grey metal in the actinide series of the periodic table. A uranium atom has 92 protons and 92 electrons, of which 6 are valence electrons. Uranium is weak ...

and

ash Ash or ashes are the solid remnants of fires. Specifically, ''ash'' refers to all non-aqueous, non- gaseous residues that remain after something burns. In analytical chemistry, to analyse the mineral and metal content of chemical samples, ash ...

as the region has state's two biggest coal-fired power stations. In Bathinda district, tests on ground water found the highest average concentration of uranium (56.95 μg/L) in

Bhucho Mandi Bhucho Mandi is a suburb of Bathinda and a municipal council in Bathinda district in the state of Punjab, India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, th ...

, close to the

ash pond An ash pond, also called a coal ash basin or surface impoundment,U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Washington, D.C. "Hazardous and Solid Waste Management System; Identification and Listing of Special Wastes; Disposal of Coal Combustion ...

of the Lehra Mohabat thermal power plant. Tests also found high uranium levels in Jai Singh Wala village, close to the Bathinda ash pond. In 2010, ''

The Times of India ''The Times of India'', also known by its abbreviation ''TOI'', is an Indian English-language daily newspaper and digital news media owned and managed by The Times Group. It is the third-largest newspaper in India by circulation and largest ...

'' reported that high concentrations of uranium could be attributed to the United States' use of

depleted uranium Depleted uranium (DU; also referred to in the past as Q-metal, depletalloy or D-38) is uranium with a lower content of the fissile isotope than natural uranium.: "Depleted uranium possesses only 60% of the radioactivity of natural uranium, hav ...

in the

War in Afghanistan War in Afghanistan, Afghan war, or Afghan civil war may refer to: *Conquest of Afghanistan by Alexander the Great (330 BC – 327 BC) *Muslim conquests of Afghanistan (637–709) *Conquest of Afghanistan by the Mongol Empire (13th century), see als ...

. Researchers have concluded that geological causes are the main source of the uranium contamination in Punjab, as uranium enrichments occur in the underlying

Siwalik The Sivalik Hills, also known as the Shivalik Hills and Churia Hills, are a mountain range of the outer Himalayas that stretches over about from the Indus River eastwards close to the Brahmaputra River, spanning the northern parts of the Indian ...

sediments.A. Srivastava, F. Knolle, F. Hoyler, U.W. Scherer and E. Schnug (2015)
"Uranium Toxicity in the State of Punjab in North-Western India"
In ''Management of Natural Resources in a Changing Environment'', jointly published with Capital Publishing Company, New Delhi, India.

History

Response

Possible causes

References

Further reading