ENVIRONMENTAL-POLLUTION AND CHILD HEALTH IN THE ARAL SEA REGION IN KAZAKSTAN

The deterioration of human health with increasing infant mortality rat e, declining life expectancy at birth and increasing prevalence of ser ious infectious diseases in Russia and other former Soviet Republics i s thought to be due to a combination of several factors such as inadeq uate nutrition, poor sanitation, collapse of the health care system an d pollution from Soviet agriculture and industries. In the Aral Sea re gion in Kazakhstan, the environmental problems are of near catastrophi c proportions. As a result of the implementation of a massive irrigati on scheme to support the cotton fields in the former desert land, the water flow to the Aral Sea was reduced to less than half. Industrial p ollutants such as PCB-compounds and heavy metals, but also the use of large quantities of pesticides to control parasites and weeds have acc umulated not only in water, but also in soil and have been deposited o ver large areas by atmospheric transport to enter the food chain leadi ng to humans. In a study of 15 children and of an additional 12 childr en referred from the region of the Aral Sea to the National Children's Rehabilitation Center in Almaty with symptoms and signs of 'ecologica l disease', we have found that the concentration of PCB compounds in t he blood lipids is elevated in relation to healthy Swedish children. I n addition, the blood lipid concentration of the beta-isomer of the he xachlorocyclohexanes was extremely high and of DDT-compounds was eleva ted up to 20 times. The concentrations of lead in red blood cells was moderately elevated and that of cadmium slightly elevated compared to the findings in Stockholm children. To study the role of these polluta nts in the diseases found in children from the Aral Sea region accurat e epidemiological studies have to be performed. (C) 1997 Elsevier Scie nce B.V.