'Due to this sudden phenomenon, guests stopped visiting the homes of these villages, girls and boys from these villages were not getting proposals; students were reluctant to attend schools and colleges for fear of being shamed.'
Dr Himmatrao Bawaskar runs a hospital and research centre in Mahad.
In January, Dr Bawaskar read about the sudden occurrence of extensive alopecia totalis or balding of residents in 18 villages in Buldhana in Maharashtra in Marathi newspapers.
Dr Bawaskar and a team then traveled to the area, collected samples and conducted meticulous investigations which revealed high levels of selenium.
"We have to avoid eating wheat containing selenium. Once this is stopped, the selenium toxicity will disappear and the hair will regrow," Dr Bawaskar tells Neeta Kolhatkar.
When did you first learn about the cases of balding in 18 villages in Buldhana? What prompted you to travel to the affected village and conduct an investigation?
In the first week of January, there were multiple news reports in Marathi newspapers about the sudden baldness, of people suffering from alopecia totalis in 18 villages of Buldhana district.
Due to this sudden phenomenon, guests had stopped visiting the homes of these villages, girls and boys from these villages were not getting proposals; students were reluctant to attend schools and colleges for fear of being shamed.
This occurrence had a great impact on their society because it caused immense stigma.
When I read about how this social problem had fallen on their society I took the decision to go and investigate the cause of the alopecia.
My family members and I went to all 18 villages where there were reported cases of alopecia.
We visited Bhongaon, from where the first cases were reported. There are 28 patients in this village.
We went around testing samples, speaking to the villagers, studying their symptoms.
How did you realise that wheat had caused baldness in the villagers?
The first thing you need to know is that this area is a drought prone area, due to low rainfall.
Most of the population here are registered below the poverty line. Their survival solely depends on the ration shops (Public Distribution System for food grain).
They have extremely little or no agricultural produce on their lands. They cannot survive from their meagre produce, hence the villagers are compelled to purchase wheat from PDS shops.
When I asked when they first noticed the hair fall the villagers told me that when they consumed the wheat from the ration shop, they felt nauseous. Many also got loose motions and the next day they were down with fever.
Along with these symptoms they felt numbness in their skulls and on the fourth or fifth day, when they brushed their hair, a bunch of hair came into their hands without any pain from their scalps.
After a week all of them reported total baldness. This has afflicted around 300 people. We collected samples of blood, urine and hair of these villagers.
The villagers told us the main cause is the wheat from the ration shops. So my team and I collected sufficient samples of the wheat from the ration shops.
I also took photographs of the gunny bags that some villagers and shops had of that wheat.
We also collected locally produced wheat to make a comparative analysis. We washed some samples of wheat and tested both, washed and unwashed wheat.
The results showed there was no difference in the levels of selenium seen in the wheat, whether washed or unwashed.
The levels of selenium was extremely high. It also indicated selenium was not added externally to the wheat produce.
We also investigated the logo and ink used, to see if that too had any levels of selenium.
There was inherent selenium in the wheat itself. We also analysed the samples of blood, urine and hair that we had collected.
The results were alarming. The blood and urine samples showed prevalence of 1,000 times selenium.
The common cause of baldness is thallium, arsenic and gallium. While there were high levels of thallium, there was a remarkably low level of zinc.
The wheat I brought back from Buldhana contained 600 times of selenium.
Now compare this to the wheat which is produced locally in their own land. It does not contain selenium.
The logo on the gunny bags showed this wheat was produced in Punjab and Haryana.
What is likely to cause this high levels of selenium in wheat from Punjab and Haryana? Is it the soil, water, pesticides?
See, wheat is a common crop in Punjab and Haryana. The land is alkaline in this region.
Near the outer side of the Himalayas are the Shivalik range of mountains. The rocks in this region have the highest level of selenium.
During the monsoons, when the rivulets are activated, the water flows down, they carry these high levels of selenium to downstream land, which is Punjab and Haryana.
The water from these rivulets feed their crops. During summers, these rivulets disappear.
There are two specific districts that are highly inflicted with selenium: Hoshiarpur and Nawanshahr.
Here too there was prevalence of baldness due to presence of selenium in the water.
Due to which many lands are unused as farmers are not allowed to grow wheat in that area.
Is it possible to reduce the levels of selenium in this region?
We cannot let the farmers abandon their land. We have to provide solutions.
First, the government has to divert the rivulets to non superior land or non fertile land.
The other issue is this is alkaline land. Selenium dissolves easily in the water, so it enters the soil and the plants too easily absorb it.
Farmers use DAP fertiliser manure. This adds more alkalinity to the soil because they use phosphate manure.
With the presence of high phosphate in the soil, the zinc becomes less accessible for plants to absorb.
This automatically leads to zinc deficiency in crops even if there is presence of zinc in the soil.
In our investigation we got low levels of zinc in blood and wheat samples.
There are solutions to reduce selenium in the water, like the farmers need to add gypsum to their land.
Gypsum can be added to the soil by growing several varieties of plants, which can amend the presence of selenium in the soil.
This will help prevent plants from absorbing selenium, which will also help maintain the presence of zinc in the plants.
The other solution is to use cattle manure to reduce the presence of heavy metals in the soil.
Here farmers use lift irrigation from their wells and borewells for their land. This water has a prevalence of high levels of selenium.
This needs to be stopped immediately. The farmers in these two regions need to be given canal water. Canal water has low levels of selenium.
We have studied literature that shows when wild mustard, sunflower and other crops are grown, they are effective to reduce selenium levels in the soil.
Now we know specific areas in Punjab where wheat is grown that contains high levels of selenium which causes baldness.
The government needs to investigate every batch of wheat and test samples to ensure the selenium levels are low.
If there is presence of high selenium levels then they should immediately stop the distribution, so that people are not afflicted. This is the least we expect the government to do.
What is the solution for the villagers in Buldhana? Will their hair grow back?
Selenium toxicity has no antidote in this world! The only thing is, prevention.
We have to avoid eating wheat containing selenium, that is all we can do.
Once this is stopped, the selenium toxicity will disappear and the hair will regrow.
Has the Union or state government taken cognisance of your efforts?
No. Nobody has called, they are least bothered.
I don't wait for any government. I incurred expenses of Rs 92,000 for this investigation of high levels of alopecia totalis.
I don't wait for cognisance from authorities. My aim is to relieve patients of any threat to their lives.
This entire region is extremely sorrowful. A very old woman shared her heartbreaking story. She said for survival, they have to spend Rs 75 every week to get drinking water from tankers.
This has been going on for the last 10 years. Imagine these poor families have to spend Rs 75 every week to get drinking water.
These are remote villages. Dr Bawaskar could reach travelling these villages 800 kilometres, if one wants they can reach.
Feature Presentation: Rajesh Alva/Rediff.com
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