The Hindu : Toxicity in Plachimada sludge

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jul 27, 2003

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National

Toxicity in Plachimada sludge

By P. Venugopal

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM July 26. The sludge supplied by Coca-Cola's bottling unit at Plachimada in Kerala's Palakkad district to farmers to be used as fertilizer contains "dangerous levels of the known carcinogen cadmium," and it is useless as a fertilizer, according to a report from the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC).

The report, published in the South Asia section of the BBC's website, says that the chemicals were traced in the course of an investigation by BBC Radio 4's `Face the Facts' programme. The findings have prompted scientists to call for the practice to be halted, according to the BBC.

An agitation has been on for more than a year now against the multinational soft drink giant siphoning off groundwater resources, causing drinking water shortages and devastating the farming sector. The agitators say that wells have dried up and the remaining water has become unfit for drinking. In order to placate the public, the company has been supplying potable water to villages and delivering the sludge free of cost to farmers.

According to the BBC report, the presenter of `Face the Facts', John Waite, visited Plachimada and sent sludge samples to the University of Exeter. "Tests revealed the material was useless as a fertilizer and contained a number of toxic metals, including cadmium and lead," the report says. The laboratory's senior scientist, David Santillo, is reported to have said that the contamination had spread to the water supply, with levels of lead in a nearby well going well above those set by the World Health Organisation.

The report says that Britain's leading poisons expert, Professor John Henry, Consultant at St. Mary's Hospital in London, had urged the authorities to ban the supply of the sludge. The toxin levels found would pollute the land, local water supplies and the food chain. The report quotes Professor Henry as saying: "The results have devastating consequences for those living near the areas where this waste has been dumped and for the thousands who depend on crops produced in these fields... What most worries me about the levels found is how this might be affecting pregnant women in the area. You would expect to see an increase in miscarriages, still births and premature deliveries."

This report comes at a time when the State Government is holding up an order issued by the Perumatti panchayat, within whose area Plachimada is located, denying the company permission to continue its operations in the "public interest". The panchayat had issued its order on April 7 this year, saying that over-exploitation of groundwater resources was causing drinking water shortage. The State Government's Secretary for Local Administration conducted two sittings to hear the arguments of the company and the panchayat authorities.

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