FIRST EVER NATIONAL CONFERENCE ON HEALTH AND ENVIRONMENT IN INDIA

We have always known that the state of our health depends very crucially on the state of our environment. But we are not always aware of the extent of the degradation of our evironment and its shocking consequences for our health. The National Conference on Health and Environment being held by the CSE (7-9 July, 98) has the specific purpose of making citizens aware of the truly dangerous condition of our environment today, whether we live in big cities or small towns, or indeed in rural areas, and the impact of this on our health. We believe that if citizens become aware, our political class will be compelled to address the question of bettering the environment with some urgency.

It is for the first time in the country that a national-level conference linking health and environment is being conducted with the participation of some of our foremost scientists and foreign experts, as well as educationists, environentalists and prominent government officials. We wish to come up with new policy perspectives and parameters which could be of use to society as a whole.

We believe firmly that health is not a simple matter of drugs, doctors and hospitals. It has a direct connection with clean air, clean water, clean food and the quality of one’s lifestyle. Our bodies have in-built self-healing capabilities which are activated with the help of drugs to fight disease. But if we keep the environemnt itself healthy, we minimise the chances of illness.

Our environment is under attack from all sides- industrialisation, urbanisation and agricultural modernisation. Most commonly these phenomena result in a slow and steady exposure to chemicals which hit us in a way very different from, say, a sudden outbreak of an epidemic. Breakdown of the body’s defences caused by the long-term effect of chemicals lead to cancers, heart-related problems, brain-elated disorders, hormone-related problems, reproductive malfunction, and even changes that will affect succeeding generations. The pity is these problems creep up slowly, and we find out usually when it is too late.

Let us consider some examples. An Indian study shows that less than 30 percent of Indian male have normal semen characteristics. There is a correlation betwee this and air pollution indices like lead, sulphur dioxide and suspended particulate matter. Some scientists believe this phenomenon, also noted worldwide, is caused by sustained exposue to plastics.

It is so important to be aware of the environental dangers, and so necessary to eliminate them with a sense of urgency, because India is a poor country, and we do not possess technological systems which clean up the environment, though technological advance alone can hardly keep the environmental pollution-free, as the western experience shows. For reasons of poverty it is also not possible for most Indians to access expensive modern health facilities, and when ecological changes occur, the poor and the children suffer the most.

What do we do then? This is the question to address. But we do know one thing:raising consciousness to keep our environent clean and healthy can help eliminate a large spectrum of serious illnesses that kill most Indians. And this does not come at any great financial cost. But it needs new thinking. The wholesale copying of the western model does not help. We need a new model of development, a new paradigm of life. This will emerge when ordinary Indians get involved with thinking about it.

For more information, contact Priti Kumar at CSE, Tel. Nos. 6981110, 6981125