Survivors of LG polymers gas leak in Visakhapatnam still live in fear
The Hindu
As per a survey conducted by Alluri Sitharamaraju Vignana Kendram and Research Centre, till date more than 30% of the residents in the five villages suffer from anxiety and psychological issues
The survivors of LG Polymers styrene monomer leak incident still live under fear and many are yet to recover from the trauma, even after two years of the incident.
On May 7, 2020, Styrene monomer vaporised due to intense heat and leaked out of a storage tank vent in the LG Polymers plant located in R. R. Venkatapuram in Visakhapatnam city. The incident happened at around 3 a.m., when people of the city were in deep slumber, primarily affecting the five neighbouring villages of R. R. Venkatapuram, Padmapuram, B. C. Colony, Gopalapatnam and Kamparapalem.
About 12 persons had died, more than 2,000 were affected and about a 1,000 needed hospitalisation. As per a survey conducted by Alluri Sitharamaraju Vignana Kendram and Research Centre, till date more than 30% of the residents in the five villages suffer from anxiety and some psychological issue.
But what concerns the environmentalists and experts from the medical field, is that the health monitoring system has taken a backseat.
“Styrene is possibly carcinogenic and if inhaled in good quantity or exposed for a longer time can lead to a number of health issues related to neurological, psychological, skin, eye or lungs,” said Dr. D. Raghunadharao, Chief Medical Oncologist of KIMS-ICON Hospital.
Recently, Dr. Raghunadharao and a team of experts comprising Dr. V. Ramana Dhara, Indian Institute of Public Health, Hyderabad, Dr. G. R. Sridhar of Endocrine and Diabetes Centre and Thomas H. Gassert, Department of Environmental Health, Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, USA, have published a detailed paper in the Journal of Dr. NTR University of Health Sciences, highlighting the health issues pertaining to this case and how to mitigate such disasters.
They pointed out that the authorities concerned failed to collect the baseline data for future monitoring of the case. “It is important to study the immediate toxicity, intermediate toxicity and long term toxicity. But we do not have the baseline data to study and it would be difficult to study the children who will be born to the victims,” said Dr. Raghunadharao.