In these villages, however, the presence is as high as 7 mg at the highest level and 2.90 mg at the lowest. Steady consumption of fluoride water, says Arati Lalchandani, a city based doctor, affects both nerves and the bones and gradually makes movement and bending of limbs extremely difficult. In fact the situation is so bad in Siraha Khera, a village 70 kilometres from here, that angry villagers initially refused to speak to this correspondent. Paul said the slow poisoning caused by contaminated groundwater was spreading in remote parts of the state. Many people have been suffering from severe anaemia, stiff joints, painful and restricted movement, mottle teeth and kidney failure leading to premature death while many have been crippled for life.
Fluorosis is a non-curable disease and fluoride a deadly chemical.
So far, scientists claimed that the north-eastern region was safe from fluoride. The children, ranging in age from 15 months to 14 years, contracted skeletal fluorosis, a disease which causes deformities of the bones, according to medical sources. The children suffer symptoms ranging from stiffness of the joints, arthritic-like symptoms and chronic joint pain, to calcification of the vertebral column, crippling spine and joint deformities, muscle wasting, and neurological defects. According to Dr. Moussa Koini, who has written a medical dissertation on the topic, the disease is caused by drinking water containing too much fluoride. Skeletal fluorosis is a very disabling disease.