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INDIA : Traces of uranium have been found in a large number of autistic children in India's northern state of Punjab.
The metal, used for generating nuclear energy and to make nuclear bombs, is thought to be the reason behind their autism.
Five-and-a-half-year-old Dashamveer Singh was born premature. It was one of the reasons behind his slow mental development.
He is being treated at Baba Farid Centre For Special Children.
"A normal kid would be active. He would start sitting up by six months of age and start reacting. My child did no such thing. After one year, he could neither sit nor stand. So, we sought treatment for him at the centre," said Satvinder Kaur, mother of Dashamvee.
There are many children at the centre with similar symptoms - most of them are from a small town in India's northern state of Punjab.
A study was conducted to find out the cause of the growing number of cerebral palsy and epilepsy among children in the district.
It found that nearly 87 per cent of the children at the institute have high levels of uranium - 60 times higher than the acceptable limit.
Their bodies are also filled with a cocktail of toxins such as arsenic, lead, aluminum and mercury.
DR Amar Singh Azad, a neurologist said: "Some scientists have predicted that by 2025, mental retardation rate will go up by 33 per cent. We did a survey in a nearby village, where actually we found this to be true.
"The number of kids at our institute has also increased. We get a lot of mental retardation cases and the toxicity level among those kids is very high."
Punjab's soil is heavily polluted as a result of India's push to feed itself.
The state is the shining example of the country's green revolution success.
But in the race to modernise its agriculture, Punjab's farmers depended heavily on pesticides and fertilisers, which are now finding their way into the drinking water, soil, clothes, food and even the human body.
"There is a whole spectrum of ill effects of radioactivity and heavy metals. Most common is immunity disorders. With heavy metals, the body's ability to fight diseases goes down. It affects a person's overall health. And anyone working in the healthcare sector can tell you the immunity of all Punjabis is going down," said Pritpal Singh, chairman of the Baba Farid Centre For Special Children.
Some scientists contend that it is too early to say that uranium causes autism and birth defects.
But the presence of the metal in the soil is a dangerous sign and it has a life span of a billion years.
Uranium is a dangerous metal used for tapping nuclear energy or for making modern warfare weapons. Long exposure to it can cause kidney, liver and heart failure.
Its presence in the soil and water signals that Punjab may be in a deep ecological crisis that is affecting the health of the children. - CNA /ls
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