Abstract
Lately there has been an increasing concern about uranium toxicity in some districts of Punjab State located in the North Western part of India after the publication of a report (Blaurock-Busch et al. 2010) which showed that the concentration of uranium in hair and urine of children suffering from physical deformities, neurological and mental disorder from Malwa region (Fig. 1) of Punjab State was manifold higher than the reference ranges. A train which connects the affected region with the nearby city of Bikaner which has a Cancer Hospital has been nicknamed as Cancer Express due to the frenzy generated on account of uranium related toxicity.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Alrakabi M, Singh G, Bhalla A, Kumar S, Kumar S, Srivastava A, Rai B, Singh N, Shahi JS, Mehta D (2012) Study of uranium contamination of ground water in Punjab state in India using X-ray fluorescence technique. J Radioanal Nucl Chem 294:221–227. doi:10.1007/s10967-011-1585-x
Bajaj M, Eiche E, Neumann T, Winter J, Gallert C (2011) Hazardous concentrations of selenium in soil and groundwater in North-West India. J Hazard Mater 189:640–646
Blaurock-Busch E, Friedle A, Godfrey M, Schulte-Uebbing CEE, Smit C (2010) Metal exposure in the children of Punjab, India. Clin Med Insights: Ther 2:655–661. doi:10.4137/CMT.S5154 Chandigarh
De Kok LJ, Schnug E (eds) (2008) Loads and fate of fertilizer-derived uranium. Backhuys Publishers, Leiden
Kabata-Pendias A (2011) Trace elements in soils and plants, 4th edn. CRC Press, Boca Raton
Kumar A, Usha N, Sawant PD, Tripathi RM, Raj SS, Mishra M, Rout S, Supreeta P, Singh J, Kumar S, Kushwaha HS (2011) Risk assessment for natural uranium in subsurface water of Punjab State, India. Hum Ecol Risk Assess 17:381–393. doi:10.1080/10807039.2011.552395
Rohit K (2012) M.Sc thesis, Chemistry Department, Panjab University
Srivastava A (2004) An overview of an indoor radon study carried out in dwellings in India and Bangladesh during the last decade using solid state nuclear track detectors. J Environ Radioact 78:113–121
Swarnkar BM, Umamaheshwar K, Srinivasan S, Kothari PK (2002) Exploration for sandstone type uranium mineralisation in the northern Himalaya, India. Explor Res Atomic Miner 14:1–27
WHO (2011) Guidelines for drinking-water quality, 4th edn. WHO, Geneva
Acknowledgement
One of the authors (Alok Srivastava) would like to place on record his special thanks to Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Bonn, Germany for providing financial support to carry out the experimental work in Germany.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2015 Capital Publishing Company
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Srivastava, A., Knolle, F., Hoyler, F., Scherer, U.W., Schnug, E. (2015). Uranium Toxicity in the State of Punjab in North-Western India. In: Raju, N., Gossel, W., Sudhakar, M. (eds) Management of Natural Resources in a Changing Environment. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12559-6_21
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-12559-6_21
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Cham
Print ISBN: 978-3-319-12558-9
Online ISBN: 978-3-319-12559-6
eBook Packages: Earth and Environmental ScienceEarth and Environmental Science (R0)