We are eating and drinking poison daily: Experts

A leading agriculturist and environment specialist has warned that mother earth is facing its worst ever catastrophe unless immediate steps are taken by governments religions, other groups and individuals to cure the epidemic of pollution.

Ranjith Seveviratne who worked for more than two decades as a specialist in the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Rome, called on all religions especially to unite in helping the world to turn around from its self-destructive course.

Addressing a meeting at Fatima Church to mark the golden jubilee of the ordination of Fr. Aloysius Pieris, a pioneer in BuddhistChristian dialogue, Mr. Seneviratne focused on the shocking pollution of the soil, water and food.

He made other stunning revelations. Giving facts and figures Mr. Seveviratne said transnational chemical corporations had been producing substances to make chemical weapons for the two world wars in 1915 and 1939, the wars in Korea and Vietnam. When these major wars ended the chemical TNCs had no market and so they invented new markets especially in third world countries for agro-chemicals which they claimed would produce better harvests. Thus most of the food we are eating today contains varying degrees of poison and that may be one of the reasons why more people are falling sick more often, hospitals are overcrowded like marker places and medicine has become big business.

Mr. Seneviratne also made some disturbing disclosures on the ill-effects from the excessive use of plastic and polythene. He said scientific investigations had shown that when drinking water is kept in plastic bottles, big or small a chemical reaction caused the water to be somewhat poison- ous. One of the side effects was that girls attained age when they are as young as eight, while in males the effect was a delay in the growth hormones.The FAO expert advised the people to use bottles or stainless steel containers to store or carry drinking water.

Mr. Seneviratne and another environmentalist Sajeeva Chameekara, director of the Environment Conservation Trust also revealed how the mighty oceans had been polluted by plastics and polythene. Sea temperatures and levels were rising at such a rapid rate that in the coming decades many oslands would be submerged and Sri Lanka itself would loose much of its coastline. They also revealed that hundreds of marine species were dying because they were eating too much plastic or polythene, while human beings who ate these seafood were also affected.