Effluents from a pulp and paper mill: a skin and health survey of children living in upstream and downstream villages

Abstract

Objectives: A health survey of three villages (upstream village Rantau Baru and two downstream villages, Sering and Pelalawan) in the vicinity of a pulp and paper mill along the Kampar river in the province of Riau, Indonesia was conducted to find whether exposure to the effluents from the mill was related to skin conditions and ill health. Methods: A cross sectional survey was carried out of children living in the three villages. Results: Common skin conditions such as dermatitis, fungal infections, insect bites, and miliaria were found. No significantly increased risk of dermatitis or any illness in general was found with increasing levels of exposure to river water for downstream villages when compared with the upstream village. However, there was an increased risk of diarrhoea in Sering especially with drinking water directly from the river (prevalence rate ratio (PRR) 4.9, 95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.4 to 63.9). An increased risk was also found within the upstream village Rantau Baru (PRR 2.3, 95% CI 0.9 to 5.8) and downstream village Sering (PRR 1.4, 95% CI 0.4 to 5.2) when children who drank water directly from the river were compared with those who never did. Analysis of the river water also showed physical and chemical variables within the acceptable range except for faecal coliforms (6 MPN/100 ml) found in the sample taken from Sering. Conclusions: The effluent from the mill is unlikely to be causing skin conditions and ill health. Diarrhoea may be due to faecal coliform contamination of the water because all raw sewerage is deposited in the river. Community health outreach programmes are being implemented based on these findings.

Reduced Vesicular Storage of Dopamine Causes Progressive Nigrostriatal Neurodegeneration

“…The association between ␣-synuclein expression and neurodegeneration has been demonstrated extensively in several lines of ␣-synuclein transgenic animals (Feany and Bender, 2000;Masliah et al, 2000;Rochet et al, 2000;van der Putten et al, 2000;Giasson et al, 2002;Lee et al, 2002). Immunohistochemical analysis of ␣-synuclein pathology in the VMAT2 LO mice found an increase in ␣-synuclein accumulation in neuronal cell bodies in the SNpc (Fig.…”

Skin-related symptoms following exposure to recreational water: a systematic review and meta-analysis

“…Thirteen studies Wiedenmann et al 2006), while three studies used employees at a sporting event or athletes with no water exposure at the same sporting venue (Medema et al 1995;Fewtrell et al 1992;Dewailly et al 1986). Haile et al (1999), Lee et al (2002), and Dwight et al (2004) used exposure to less contaminated waters as a comparison group for individuals exposed to highly contaminated waters.…”

“…Only four studies focused only on children (Alexander et al 1992;Lee et al 2002;Van Asperen et al 1997;Charoenca and Fujioka 1995). Definitions of outcomes and exposures for all the included studies are in Table 3.…”

“…Water samples were collected during the event, and follow-up for skin-related symptoms occurred 5-9 days after the events. Lee et al (2002) was one of the cross-sectional studies conducted, and water sampling, current skin-related illness status, and history of river exposure was collected on the same day. The comparison groups were those with exposure to highly contaminated water vs. lower water contamination.…”

“…For fifteen of the twenty studies, exposure was determined by self-report (Cabelli et al 1979;Cabelli 1983;Seyfried et al 1985;Dewailly et al 1986;Ferley et al 1989;Cheung et al 1990;Alexander et al 1992;Von Schirnding et al 1992;Haile et al 1999;Prieto et al 2001;Lee et al 2002;Colford et al 2007;Dwight et al 2004;Charoenca and Fujioka 1995;Wade et al 2008). The definition of exposure differed from study to study.…”