FLUOROSIS, a disease caused by high intakes of fluoride, is becoming endemic in Tharparkar with more than 250 of 950 people in Samoon Rind village having developed bone deformities, skeletal and dental fluorosis due to consumption of groundwater with high levels of fluoride.

According to reports, severe drought conditions, decreasing water level in wells and increase in salt concentration were endangering the lives of Thar people.

Dr Rafique said that the Thar Desert had been identified as one of the most fluoride-affected areas in the country. In the absence of public water supply, people were compelled to use groundwater which was brackish with high concentration of fluoride when surface water dried up, he said.

Fluoride causes dental and skeletal fluorosis, osteoscalerosis, thyroid, and kidney problems when its concentration exceeds 1.5 mg/L in drinking water and the intake of excessive fluoride leads to chronic bone and joint deformations in skeletal fluorosis, for which early symptoms include sporadic pain and stiffness of joints and finally the spine, major joints and muscles, damaging the nervous system, he said. Healthcare is a major issue in Thar.

He said that he found after research on “Occurrence, distribution and origin of fluoride-rich groundwater in the Thar desert that the samples had fluoride values exceeding the limit of 1.5 mg/L as prescribed by WHO

The marginalised sections of society suffer the most. Poverty and malnutrition compound the problems. In many families, women and girls fetch water for the family every day from a long distance, from a communal source. This takes hours, depriving them of profitable working time or education. Constant lifting and carrying of heavy water pots cause health problems, particularly among pregnant women.The main crops grown in the area are millet, mung beans, bulgur wheat, chili and oilseed. These plants can tolerate dry conditions. However, in severe drought conditions yield of even these crops falls drastically. Fresh fruits and vegetables are scarce. Successive years of low rainfall lead to scarcity of food and poverty.

He said that fluorosis is irreversible and no remedy and treatment has so far been found except prevention by keeping fluoride intake within safe limits. Both dental and skeletal fluorosis not only affects the body of a person but also renders him socially and culturally crippled, he said.

The research disclosed that groundwater in the areas along the north and northeastern side of Thar, particularly in Samoon Rind, Kalario, Narovari and Sukhani villages of Tharparkar and Bhojrajio, Morasio, Ramsar villages of Umerkot district, carried high level of fluoride.

Samoon Rind village had a population of 950 souls, out of whom more than 250 had the disease. One or two members of each family were suffering from arthritis and a large number of elders and children were in serious need of corrective orthopedic surgery.A local NGO, Association for Water Applied Education and Renewable Energy (AWARE), Umerkot, General Secretary Karim Bux Sheikh said that the situation in the Thar region was alarming and required the government to immediately take remedial measures, including better rainwater harvesting, development of sweet groundwater and installation of defluoridation and desalination plants.

The situation in the Thar region is alarming and needs immediate remedial measures, including better rainwater harvesting.

RAKHSHANDA KHOWAJA
Islamabad