Disappearing Aral Sea Linked To Epidemic Of Esophegal Cancer - BBC

[hatrack]

"Fresh fears have been raised about the health of populations living near the shrinking Aral Sea in central Asia. A new study has now found high levels of DNA damage that could explain the region's abnormally high cancer rates.

This comes as the latest estimates say the Aral Sea is receding so rapidly it could vanish within the next 15 years. Once the world's fourth largest inland body of water, the sea has been drained by a poorly managed irrigation system that supplies water to cotton crops.

EDIT

In the last eight years, the sea has fallen another 5m (16ft) and soon you can expect official confirmation that the larger of its two parts has been divided again. What is left when these seas retreat is a vision of environmental apocalypse: vast stretches of desert, laden with heavy doses of salt and burdened with a toxic mix of chemical residues washed down over the decades from the farms upstream.

EDIT

Dust blows everywhere and carries with it toxins that enter the food chain. The impact on public health is devastating. Malnutrition is rife as are conditions including anaemia and TB. Most alarming is a rate of a particular form of cancer - cancer of the oesophagus - that is the highest in the world. Up to 80% of cancer victims in the region suffer this form of cancer. For years the likely cause has been suspected to be the intensive use of pesticides and herbicides on the vast cotton fields to the south of the Aral Sea. Now new research appears to provide support for that. Dr Spencer Wells, of the National Geographic Society and formerly Oxford University's Wellcome Trust Centre for Human Genetics, studied DNA samples taken from the local population and found widespread genetic damage."

EDIT

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3846843.stm

[Bill McBlueState]

1. it's really a scar on the planet

As much as western corporations would like free reign to do whatever they want to make a buck, it's a credit to the environmental movement that on the whole, North America and Western Europe haven't become nearly as polluted as some areas of the former USSR. We've made a lot of progress on the environment in recent decades. Hopefully we'll be able to say the same about the former Soviet republics in the future.

[jobycom]

3. The saddest part is, the Soviet government drained this sea on purpose

The Soviets began draining the Aral Sea to irrigate the neighboring lands. THey knew it would dry up, but they considered that a correction to a "mistake" of nature. There was a large sea-- the result of several rivers-- in the middle of dry land. The irrigation made much of the surrounding land farmable.

But as the sea shrank, all the polutants that had been dumped into the water and had sunk to the bottom were exposed. The dry sand caused duststorms full of toxic chemicals. The land grew hotter because the heat sink effect of the sea was lost. And of course, the economy of the region dried up along with the lake, and in a region where you must have government permission to relocate, people were trapped in horrendous conditions.

The Sahara Desert used to be lush, and we always wondered how it could have changed so drastically, how rainfall could have stopped and the rivers run dry. We are watching it happen now in the Aral Sea region, and it's all man made.

[jobycom]

2. If you ever run across the article "Eternal Winter" by Tom Bissel

pick it up. It's included in "The Best Travel Writing of 2003" (along with great stories about the pope as a ski bum and about modern Cuba).

Those who claim that we try to hard to protect the environment, those who call us chicken littles, need to visit this region.

[seafan]

4. Here is the link to the article.

http://articles.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1111/is_1823_304/ai_84184701/print

Very compelling reading. Thanks for the info.

[jobycom]

5. Thanks for the link. Hope more people read it. Long, but exceptional.