CKD and chemicals
Posted on April 18th, 2013
Ranjith Soysa
It is indeed encouraging to hear about the steps taken by the government in implementing regulations to control the use of agricultural chemicals. The government is said to be guided by the WHO reports indicating direct links of the use of chemicals by the farmers to the incidence of CKD. However, it is relevant and very important to mention the role played by Kelaniya University team of researchers who were guided by the Natha Deviyo in tracking the arsenic contents of the chemicals and the adverse reactions it created in given type of water. Dr Priyanthi Senanayake, Dr. Channa Jayasumana are among the Kelaniya University team who defied all criticism and threats posed by some members of the ‘scientific community’ who insisted that arsenic had nothing to do with the CKD.
Dr. Nalin de Silva not only worked with the group but wrote profusely in clarifying the issues and educating the public. Dr de Silva’s articles helped the debate on CKD to be taken to a professional level. The Kelaniya University team has also developed a sustainable model of agriculture sans chemicals and also a medication for the CKD. While the government seems to be NOW convinced of the damage caused by the arsenic etc and is citing the WHO as guiding it, it is advisable to listen to the Kelaniya group for a more holistic solution.
But, then one can anticipate instant reactions from the chemical importing oligarchy and the members of the establishment of scientists who used the CKD to make money by engaging in experiments for the last 20 years without any tangible results. Let this not be another case of a prophet is not without honor save in his own country.
April 18th, 2013 at 5:07 pm
How many people criticised Nalin de Silva and rediculed the reference to gods!
They all LOST. CIC, ICI, AC, HL, BL may want to take back the money they gave to those losers who did everything to STOP patriots like Nalin.
Guardian gods of Sinhale Natha, Vishnu, Kataragama and Saman have done more to protect Sinhale than anyone else.
CKD strikes at our STRATEGIC FRONTIERS in Welioya, Anuradhapura, etc. It MUST be stopped.
Thank our guardian gods. Thank you Nalin. Thank you Lankaweb for publishing all those reserach papers.
April 18th, 2013 at 6:59 pm
Well said Lorenzo,
“CKD strikes at our STRATEGIC FRONTIERS in Welioya, Anuradhapura, etc. It MUST be stopped.”
Perhaps you got my point in the another thread regarding food in LankaWeb today.
April 19th, 2013 at 4:40 am
I highlighted the problem many tears ago. Over 4500000 poor people are affected. Only people like Ranjith Zoysa, who work tirelessly appear to care. Rajarata, the frontier people are being wiped out. The rest of Sri Lanka should help in what ever way they can. There are good scientists such as Prof. Bandara and Dr Cooray and few others who tried to allert the public. Importers of fertilisers and pesticides appear to be making a living from the misery faced by these poor people. More action is needed.We have to save the Sinhalese rather than send them to Nirvana with chemicalsa.
April 19th, 2013 at 6:01 am
It is good that the CKD issue is kept alive for Preventive care purposes.
Some points to emphasise :
* There was evidence that extra Arsenic was added to the pesticides, supposedly for extra effectiveness against pests. Were there other reasons ? After all, as Lorenzo points out : “CKD strikes at our STRATEGIC FRONTIERS in Welioya, Anuradhapura, etc.” Those areas were also parts of the ltte expanding borders ? Do we rule out chemical terrorism here ?
* Dr Nalin de Silva’s work in the CKD issue will be remembered with gratitude. May Natha Deviyo (Buddha to be, the Maithreeya Buddha) guide all projects in Lanka ! Perhaps the Natha Deviyo guided the Tsunami of 2004 which event swept away the Sea Tiger might as well as some ltte VIPs and was the beginning of the downfall of the ltte.
While some in the scientific community at the Kelaniya Uni did not relate well to the ‘Natha Deviyo’ part, it is well to remember that we know little about the nature of things, perhaps even less than the tip of an iceberg. I am not for superstition but rather a more humble way of looking at Life, as the reality is that we know so little and pretend to know much ….
A few meteor showers is all it takes to destroy life on earth, as what happened to the mighty dinosaurs. Tons of money and acts of terrorism will not save anyone in such events.
April 19th, 2013 at 7:19 am
Fran,
The seeds have been planted more than 20 to 25 years ago. I do not think ltte had so much of money at that time, more over they were trying to wipe out Sinhalas with guns and bombs. First we need to find out whether there was a conspiracy. For that we need to get statistics; whether it affected others ( both locally and in other countries)who used inputs from the same sources. If there was a powereful unseen hand it should be a simple matter to manipulate those chinese manufacturers and confuse our own people. The fact remains that the damage has already been done and we are not talking about a hypothetical matter.
April 19th, 2013 at 8:33 am
aloy,
You are right. To form an educated opinion, the public needs more information.
I do not know who the manufacturers of those pesticides used for those areas were during the long years of war with the ltte. What is evident is that these affected areas are BORDERING ltte ‘territory’. Also, I don not know how the extra pesticide (Arsenic in this case) was introduced, at bulk level prior to bagging. Who did the ultimate bagging before distribution to farmers & households ? etc. etc.
The ltte had/has quite a few educated scientists supporting the ultimate cause of Eelam. It was not just a power/poverty issue with the ltte – it was a TAMIL CASTE WAR, in this case the lower caste Tamils fighting for ‘freedom’ via a separate state in Lanka. Also Eelam is a deflected take off of the Tamil Nadu earlier lost cause of Dravidastan. It was later that the so called higher caste Tamils joined in. The Tamil Eelam cause has been also been used by interested foreign sources especially during Cold War years. Yes, the machinations have been going on for a long time, under the very noses of unsuspecting citizens of Lanka.
April 19th, 2013 at 8:48 pm
50,000 people have died due kidney ailments – a big problem
April 19th, 2013 at 10:07 pm
Kosala777,
It is indeed a very big problem if you are correct. Could you give reference to your source of information please?.
April 20th, 2013 at 5:24 am
We would like to see all statistics given on Lankaweb backed by sources. There are way too many absurd figures being touted around e.g. According to TESO, SL Navy killing hundreds (600 with not even an approximation !) of TN fishermen being the other latest canard.
April 20th, 2013 at 5:43 am
To answer FRAN, GOOGLE CKD SRI Lanka for sources. Try
http://www.theworld.org/2012/09/sri-lanka-kidney-chemicals/
Over 20000 dead and 480000 affected are the figures I have seen.
April 20th, 2013 at 7:40 am
Ranjith Soysa,
“However, it is relevant and very important to mention the role played by Kelaniya University team of researchers who were guided by the Natha Deviyo in tracking the arsenic contents of the chemicals and the adverse reactions it created in given type of water”
What on earth are you talking about here?. True there are many things we cannot fathom in this world. But that does not mean that scientific community anywhere in the world should resort to things like Kelaniya group have done. Perhaps you all lost credibility to your findings and GOSL could not accept your results as being credible and they had to wait until WHO report which might have been prepared by people less qualified than you all. We have world class scientists analysing organisms in meteorites fallen from heaven. We have people doing Rocket science in Nasa; they constitute 12% of scientists there. Why could not our scientists give enough confidence to GOSL to nip this problem in the bud.
I was watching a TV program on ITN on Doramadalawa. The topic was how to make Sri Lanka a knowledge hub where Prof. Nalin and two other eminent persons of that calibre was discussing the issue. I was surprised to see the pannelists intead of talking about the topic was trying to prove the western science is all lies. Even if the charge was true they should only talk about in passing and get on with the main issue. How can that theory help our people?. I think they should not try to confuse science lectures, teachers and students by coming out with ideas irrelevent to us.
April 20th, 2013 at 4:52 pm
Aloy,
Nalin sometimes gets a bit OFF TOPIC.
But I think the meaning is FOLLOW ALL LEADS, FOLLOW TRADITIONAL WISDOM with scientific methods. This is a MUST.
But stretching this TOO FAR leads to nonsense; I agree.
April 20th, 2013 at 11:00 pm
Traditional wisdom is the most important thing in this case.
The damage has been already done; there are thousands living with the kidney problems in NCP accoding to statistics presented by a doctor on TV. I think hopes are not lost for most of them. I have come across two cases where aurvedic treatment helped to manage the problem when I was woking in an ASEAN country. One was a senior Chinese M&E engineer owning a consultancy there. One aurvedic doctor from Kerala managed his case successfully for a very long time. Another was a Sri Lankan engineer who had most likely been exposed to toxic materials. He was asked to go for dialysis by doctors and his feet were swolen, from what I heard only about 18% of kidneys were fuctioning . He had to come to SL every three months to see his doctor here. Fortunately we were able to take him to that particular physician about three years ago and he is in much better health now. No concoctions or medicine were given. He was asked to do yoga, drink lot of kurumba (young coconut) and also drink lot of water boiled with sera leaves while abstaining from protein diet. That was all.
According to Prof. Nalin there are many good aurvedic healers in NCP and I hope they too can help
April 20th, 2013 at 11:50 pm
Ben, sorry 20,000 dead;50,000 infected. source – Kelaniya university, dr mala
April 21st, 2013 at 6:00 am
Lorenzo,
Traditional wisdom did not dawn on one generation and stopped there. We know people of each generation sat on the shoulders previous one had a better view of the world around and walked towards the truth. We cannot hold on to myths, turn and go back several centuries.
April 21st, 2013 at 9:59 am
Ben,
Thanks for website. It’s a good one. I says about 150 people die every year from CKD (per A’pura Govt. Hospital) – that sounds about right.
———-
Homeopathy has effective cures for CKD. However, very clean water to stop further absorption of heavy metals, a good diet with added natural supplements and home care a must. Here is an extract from the net on h’pathy & heavy metal poisoning. Please read many more articles on the net on the subject.
India produces their own Homeopathy products and have many books in English on the subject (re-prints possibly pirated !). There are “succusion” machines in the market to produce the H’pathy medicines. GoSL should start producing our own H’pathy medicines and sell via the Osu Selas. H’pathy motto says “Similars Cure”.
More …
” Heavy Metal Toxicity
Posted on June 23, 2012 by David W. Rowland
Aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, lead, mercury and nickel are heavy metals that tend to accumulate within the brain, kidneys and immune system, where they can seriously impair normal functioning. Most heavy metals in the body are the result of industrial contaminants in the environment. Other sources include aluminum from antacids and cookware; cadmium and lead from cigarette smoke; lead from pesticide sprays, cooking utensils and the solder in tin cans; and mercury from dental amalgam fillings, contaminated fish, and cosmetics. Workers with high exposure to heavy metals include battery makers, dentists, gasoline station attendants, printers, roofers, and solderers.
Early signs of heavy metal poisoning are often vague and attributed to other causes. They include: fatigue, headache, indigestion, muscle pains, tremors, anemia, pallor, constipation, dizziness, poor coordination, and a metallic taste in the mouth. Almost everyone with even mild heavy metal toxicity experiences impaired ability to think or concentrate. As toxicity increases, so do the symptoms.
Intravenous EDTA chelation removes heavy metals from the bloodstream. Homeopathic dilutions of the specific heavy metals involved (e.g., aluminum, cadmium, lead, nickel) stimulate the release of heavy metals from all tissues of the body. Frequent saunas can also be helpful”.
April 21st, 2013 at 10:00 am
read as: ” It says about 150 people ….”
April 21st, 2013 at 11:50 am
Sorry – Correction on numbers affected: As many as 400,000 people in the north-central region of Sri Lanka may be affected by the chronic kidney disease (CKD), and as many as 22,000 people may have died over the last two decades as a result. Source: The Island http://www.island.lk/index.php?page_cat=article-details&page=article-details&code_title=64136
April 21st, 2013 at 5:58 pm
We wonder whether the Tsunami missing (people who died in the Tsunami) have been added to the CKD victims of the N&E ?
There is a grave problem re statistics during the ltte period. Also, with illegal migrants coming in during the ltte period, the numbers may be distorted.
Why hasn’t Sri Lanka guarded her coastline as in ancient times ?