{"id":186412,"date":"2018-01-15T12:09:05","date_gmt":"2018-01-15T06:39:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=186412"},"modified":"2018-01-18T18:42:12","modified_gmt":"2018-01-18T13:12:12","slug":"is-sri-lanka-a-killing-field-full-of-toxins-where-people-die-of-chronic-disease","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/is-sri-lanka-a-killing-field-full-of-toxins-where-people-die-of-chronic-disease\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Sri Lanka A ‘Killing Field’ Full Of Toxins Where People Die Of Chronic Disease?"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Chandre Dharmawardana<\/a> –<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Dr. Chandre Dharmawardana<\/p><\/div>\n

The claim that Sri Lankan soils and its agricultural produce are full of toxins<\/a>, and that it is a “killing field”\u00a0<\/span>is an attractive slogan for those foreign agents who compete with Sri Lanka’s\u00a0<\/span>agricultural products. It is also a useful cry for those who want to destroy the rural landscape and replace it by an urban Megalopolis. Tea, rice and most leafy vegetables and grains accumulate toxins from the soil during the plant’s period of growth, and the toxin accumulation\u00a0<\/span>in the\u00a0<\/span>rice grains or tea leaves, can be as much as a hundred times larger than in the soil. The straw and leaves can also have high toxin levels and using such matter for composting also becomes problematic, if we indeed have “killing fields” full of toxins. Fortunately, we don’t have such \u201ckilling fields\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Some of our own\u00a0 <\/span>writers have unwittingly embraced the popular\u00a0<\/span>view of a toxin-filled \u201ckilling field\u201d, without comparing the toxicity data for\u00a0<\/span>Sri Lanka with data for other countries like UK,\u00a0<\/span>Belgium, Malta,\u00a0<\/span>New Zealand, or India\u00a0<\/span>etc, before making a strong pronouncement condemning Sri Lanka. In 2013 Dr. Asoka Bandarage wrote a blog to Huffington Post reflecting the extreme views popular with the public, also articulated by Venerable Ratana and after 2015 by the Presidential Secretariat.\u00a0 <\/span>They\u00a0<\/span>launched the “Toxin-free Nation” slogan and wrought havoc with the agricultural sector of the country.\u00a0<\/span>More recently, Dr. Amarasiri de Silva<\/a>, an anthropologist now based in the USA also wrote\u00a0<\/span>similar\u00a0<\/span>articles, but here invoking the \u201cauthority\u201d of a young Swedish\u00a0<\/span>student<\/a> studying the Veddas (\u201cVanniye Aeththo\u201d), to claim that Sri Lanka is awash with toxins. Drs. Ashly de Vos and Prassana Cooray have expressed similar, but more measured\u00a0<\/span>sentiments in the Island<\/em> newspaper. Nothing is more far from reality.<\/span><\/p>\n

The X-ray Radiograph given in Dr. Bandarage’s 2013 blog has little to do with Kidney disease and\u00a0<\/span>seems to be an investigatory pyelogram. Perhaps it was not Dr. Bandarage, but Huff Post<\/em> who placed a file photo<\/a> without any thought, but designed to emphasize the alleged “killing fields” aspect. Here is the link to Dr. Bandagae’s 2013 article. <\/span><\/p>\n

Cadmium is probably the most dangerous heavy-metal toxin that may be present in the soil, water, diet, tobacco etc.\u00a0<\/span><\/span>Below are some figures from advanced countries for the amount of cadmium found in the soil, and for Sri Lankan soils.<\/span><\/p>\n

(Data from FAO soil bulletin 65,\u00a0<\/span>the Wolfson British Geochemical map, and other sources.)<\/span><\/p>\n