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TNPCB seeks expert help from environmental institute
A few crushing units in Tirusoolam pose a serious health hazard to the adjoining residential colonies.
CHENNAI - April 30 2005: The Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board (TNPCB) has sought the support of the National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), Nagpur, to conduct an exclusive study on Tirusoolam crushing units and provide air pollution control strategies for the betterment of the units.
NEERI has already carried out a research on crushing units in Pammal, another suburban in South Chennai in the late 90s and recommended certain standards to comply with. "Since some of the norms were not really applicable to Tirusoolam, thus the present study," official sources claimed.
The project which was entrusted to NEERI recently, included existing soil status, availability of water resources to wet the materials, formation of green belt around the vicinity and develop a model unit, especially setting up with full-fledged air pollution control measures in one crushing unit.
Crushers, otherwise known as blue metal units, are vital for the industrial sector. The crushed stones of different grades are used for laying roads and in construction activities. But the dust generated out of crushing of stones is a source of health problems for the residential colonies adjoining the units, it is alleged.
"Besides dust, the presence of silica content is causing a lot of respiratory diseases, including silicosis, in elderly people. The dust pollution from the crushers is high during the evening hours, when they go for blasting rocks" says R Logesh, a resident.
According to the residents, the crushing of stones generates enormous quantity of dust during all stages of operations, like blasting, drilling of the rock, transportation, truck movement on the already battered roads, dumping into crushers, actual crushing and transfer on to conveyor belts.
It is said that the dust concentration was particularly high during wind currents, which would sweep up the dust deposits on the ground. Even when the crushers are not functioning, during nights and holidays, the wind raises the accumulated dust from the ground.
The TNPCB has been campaigning to spread awareness of the environmental problems associated with the operations among the crushing units located in Tirusoolam for a while. The Board has insisted on the closure of a few rogue units and prescribed shifting of premises for some of the others.
According to Supreme Court norms, crush units should not be located within 300 metres of residential colonies. "The unit owners should see to it that all parameters, to ensure safety, have been taken into account before operation. They should spray water to settle the dust and avoid inconvenience to residents. But even these simple techniques which are easy to adopt were not taken seriously," says M Muthukrishnan, another resident.
Due to the proximity of units, Sara Nagar Durga Road, a main thoroughfare in Pallavaram Municipality, is in dire straits. Especially, the residents of Subham Nagar Part I, II and III, Rajiv Gandhi Nagar, Amman Nagar, Sara Nagar, Gandhi Nagar and Union Carbide Colony have been put to lot of hardships while taking road transportation.
Leptin - a new marker of inflammation in pulmonary disease?
Category: Asthma/Respiratory News
Article Date: 28 Aug 2005
Leptin is a hormone produced by adipose tissue which is widely involved in several diseases, including chronic obstructive pulmonary diseases (COPD).
Based on this, Andreina Bruno (Istituto di Biomedicina e Immunologia Molecolare, Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche, Palermo, Italy) and her French and Italian colleagues studied the correlation between leptin and its receptor and the rate of inflammation in smoker subjects with and without COPD and in non-smoking healthy volunteers.
In this work, bronchial biopsies from the three different categories were examined by a specific colorimetric test that pointed out the presence of this hormone and its receptor in the pulmonary tissues. Besides, with the same method, the expression of specific inflammatory cells with and without the expression of leptin was studied.
What the authors found was a direct correlation between leptin presence in bronchial tissue and the progressive functional impairment in COPD. They also assessed the presence of leptin and its receptor in inflammatory cells and an higher expression of these cells in the patients with severe clinical conditions rather then in healthy volunteers.
These findings suggest that in patients with COPD the expression of leptin and its receptor can regulate proximal airway inflammation and leptin may act as a mediator able to perpetuate bronchial inflammation by increasing the survival of some inflammatory cells. Furthermore, it is well known that the adipose tissue is a multifunctional organ involved in inflammation by the production of different adipokines: in this context, leptin represents a pleiotropic molecule together with the others adipokines involved in the regulation of the immune system.
This evidence may support the hypothesis that leptin can be considered a marker of inflammation within the airways and mainly regulates the inflammatory cell infiltration in COPD with a potential impact on the severity of the disease.
The European Respiratory Journal is the peer-reviewed scientific publication of the European Respiratory Society (more than 7,000 specialists in lung diseases and respiratory medicine in Europe, the United States and Australia).
http://erj.ersjournals.com
Elegant Indian marble puts heavy price on miners
By Nita Bhalla Reuters
May 28, 2007 -
MAKRANA, India: The wife of a Mogul emperor was entombed in it, bathrooms around the world are lined with it, and hotel lobbies are decorated with it: marble from Makrana.
But for all the elegance it brings, the miners who carve it from huge pits pay a heavy price, according to union leaders and mine-safety advocates.
"The working conditions for the people in these quarries are extremely dangerous," Rana Sengupta of the Mine Labor Protection Campaign in Rajasthan State, which includes Makrana, said.
Each month, an average of 3 miners die and 30 are injured. Bansi Lal Binjana of the Rajasthan Mine Workers Union, which has 12,000 members, says falling rock is a major hazard.
But mine owners and officials say safety laws are followed.
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"If there is any mine that is found to be putting its workers at an unnecessary risk, then we close that mine down immediately and the owners are prosecuted," said Laxmi Narayan Dave, the Rajasthan State minister for mines and the environment.
Mine-safety campaigners, however, assert that rules are flouted without fear of prosecution. Miners fix dynamite in rock faces with just minutes to haul themselves out of the mine using a rope.
It is all a long way from the serenity of the Taj Mahal, built from Makrana marble 400 years ago in memory of Mumtaz, wife of Mogul emperor Shah Jahan.
The industry produces nearly 260,000 metric tons of marble a year, according to the latest figures from the federal mines ministry.
While Makrana's output is just a small fraction of that, industry experts say it represents India's finest quality marble.
"Welcome to Marble City: The place for the world's best quality marble," a billboard on an approach road reads.
Centuries of mining marble believed to be more than 90 percent calcium has rendered the landscape here almost lunar. A town of 90,000 people is dusted with a fine white powder that comes from about 800 mines blasted into marble deposits estimated at 56 million tons. Rocky debris stretches off into the distance.
Factories and tiny workshops are crammed with artisans deftly carving jewelry boxes and statues of Hindu gods.
A Hindu temple hangs tenuously to a clifftop, which is undermined by the determined but poorly rewarded efforts of 40,000 workers, who toil away for around $2 a day.
Laborers roam around with no safety hats, gloves or shoes. Hanging on to ropes, rather than proper ladders, they descend as far as 120 meters, or nearly 400 feet, into the bowels of a mine.
Many are from the eastern state of Bihar or from Nepali villages.
"We know the work is dangerous, but we don't have a choice," said Chotu Ram, who is 50 and has worked in the mines for 28 years. "We are poor and need the money."
While no health studies have been carried out in the town, mine-safety advocates say marble dust is easily absorbed by the body and causes respiratory diseases like silicosis and skin infections.
"The workers as well as the residents complain of chest problems and skin diseases, as these tiny particles of marble powder stick to the skin and are easily inhaled," Chandra Bhushan of the Center for Science and Environment, a research organization, said.
Mine owners are reluctant to talk. They acknowledge that accidents occur but say generous compensation is awarded to victims and their families, something workers deny.
Small family-run businesses still dominate. They sell massive marble blocks to traders whose factories cut and polish them for domestic and world markets, part of India's fragmented and dangerous mining industry, where safety standards are poor.
"There are few inspectors to check mines, and even prosecution can take forever," said A.K.D. Jadhav, a former mining secretary.
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