INDIA: Andhra looks away as fluoride poisoning cripples

[pfpcnews]

Andhra looks away as fluoride poisoning cripples people

In Nalgonda district, more than 974 villages have been affected by fluorosis, people desert these villages as they could not take the "poisonous" water anymore.

Marrigudem (Nalgonda district): Crooked bones, twisted limbs and deformed bodies sat in the doorways, eyes vacant, staring into the horizon.

Movement for them is a curse, each day a torture, as they struggle to find answers to government apathy that has left them dwarfed and shrivelled, thanks to fluoride poisoning of ground water.

Most people living in Nalgonda district of Andhra Pradesh have to survive on contaminated ground water, which is high on fluoride content. In fact, the amount of fluoride is as high as 10 parts per millilitre (ppm), as against a permissible limit of 0.5 to 1 ppm. Drinking this water gives rise to fluorosis, which in turn leads to crippled limbs, deformed teeth and stunted growth.

Ironically, the district is just 50-60 km away from Krishna river and clean drinking water. But the inhabitants can only watch helplessly as water from the river is carried in huge pipelines to Hyderabad.

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SOURCE:
http://news.in.msn.com/exclusives/it/ar ... =250332956