Lebanon’s Toxic Chemical Environment,
The Deadly Legacy of the July 2006 War
By Dr Paula Baillie-Hamilton
News Editorial,
Friends of Lebanon
Although I live in Scotland, my family was personally touched by
the aftermath of the July bombings since some family friends were
unwittingly caught up in the bombing, this when they returned home
for a family wedding in Tyre, Lebanon last July. Whilst they
appeared to suffer temporary symptoms, to be honest they said they
were just so happy at the time to have survived at all, they had no
time to think of anything else. So they could have never imagined
after escaping from this terrible ordeal, that just by breathing in
the heavily polluted air caused as a direct result of the bombing
and would have inhaled some of the most toxic and disease triggering
chemicals known to mankind. Fortunately now they understand the
situation, they are now dealing with it effectively, however if this
problem had remained unrecognised and ignored, these chemicals would
have largely remained in their bodies, continually poisoning them
for decades to come.
Unfortunately, there were many people who may have paid a far
more immediate and heavy price for the extreme levels of
environmental chemical pollution caused by the bombing. One of them
may have been a young Lebanese couple living in Tyre, Lebanon who
despite the wife having a totally healthy 7 month old pregnancy at
the start of the July bombings, a few weeks later gave birth to a
perfectly formed but dead child. At the time no reasons were given
for this personal tragedy, but if you look at the wider picture it
is possible to find possible answers which could explain this
tragedy.
While nothing has been proved, looking at the context of their
situation there is an answer which appears painfully simple and
highly plausible. It appears to relate directly to the huge amount
of dioxins that the mother would have been exposed to unavoidably by
breathing in the clouds of highly chemically toxic gas billowing out
for more than two months after the repeated bombing of the Burj el
Chemali plastics factory near the small town of Tyre. A report by
Greenpeace (1) which outlines the problems associated with the
bombing of the Lebanese plastics factories, mentioned a witness who
reported to them that: "A hugh black cloud covered the village, our
eyes stung, and we felt weak. My son was bed ridden for 3 days,
throwing up, not eating or drinking. We didn't know why. It turned
out to be from the smoke."
As the factory near Tyre made PVC plastics for medical equipment,
it would have needed a wide range of toxic chemicals to do this,
such as chlorine, fire retardants, plasticisers and heavy metals. So
when the building was bombed, a mixture of all these chemicals would
have been spewed out in the thick toxic black smoke bellowing out
forming widespread heavy clouds. Whilst any of these could have
compromised the health of her unborn child, possibly of the most
relevant chemical in this case would have been a group of chemicals
known commonly as dioxins.
Dioxins are synthetic chemicals created as a contaminant in the
formation of other synthetic chemicals, however they are also formed
in massive quantities by the burning of a common type of plastic
which contains chlorine, commonly known as PVC (polyvinyl chloride).
Many scientists have described dioxins as the most toxic chemicals
known to mankind, as they interfere even in minute levels with most
of the important and fundamental basic human bodily functions. In
addition because of their extreme stability, they simply do not
breakdown readily and because of their unusual artificial structure
our natural waste disposal systems can't 'see' them to get rid of
them. Putting this together with the fact that they are highly fat
soluble, these chemicals end up accumulating in the body and are
then passed down from generation to generation. Not surprisingly,
this combination all adds up to triggering a vast array of both
short and long term health problems. (2)
Starting with the myriad of short term health problems caused by
dioxins, the most well known symptoms are as follows: flu like
illnesses, weakness, gut infection like symptoms, chloracne (skin
diseases, acne, boils, skin discolouration), blood disorders such as
porphyria, liver damage, and peripheral and central nerve damage.
More relevantly to the young Lebanese couple in question, dioxins
have also been linked to increased fetal loss and reduced birth
weight in animal studies. (3)
A mechanism used to explain this damage by dioxins to unborn babies
appears to be due to the ability of dioxins to cause blood vessels
to constrict. As constricted blood vessels hold less blood, this
reduces the blood flow in the tissues down stream. Since babies
depend on a good blood supply in the womb for providing all their
food, oxygen and metabolic needs, any restriction on their blood
supply would easily restrict the growth of an unborn child or at
higher levels threaten its life. This has been shown to be more than
just theory since this relationship between dioxins and low birth
weight and death of unborn babies was indeed documented following a
factory explosion near Seveso, Italy in 1976. In this case a massive
amount of dioxins were released into the environment, following
which 11% of established pregnancies ended as spontaneous abortions.
It also resulted in lower birth weights in children for eight years
following this event and babies tended to be born earlier than they
should normally have. (4)
Because the Lebanese mother would not have been able to avoid weeks
of exposure to this dioxin containing toxic smoke, this could
explain how this young couple's child died with no apparent cause of
death recognised. It also would explain why chemical poisoning would
not been looked for at the time, as simple survival would have been
the main thought in all most people on finding themselves in the
middle of a battle zone.
Unfortunately this problem does not end there, since continual
exposure to dioxins in the diet, air and water will continue to add
to the chemical 'body burden' particularly of people living around
the most polluted sites over the years. This increases the chance of
developing many of the known long-term illnesses linked to these
chemicals which include: atherosclerosis, hypertension, diabetes,
cancer, vascular eye damage, enlarged prostate gland (in men)
testicular cancer, genital tract birth defects in male children, and
signs of brain and nerve damage, including depression. As these
diseases can develop several decades after massive exposure it is
often difficult to diagnose these chemical factors as being
responsible because such chronic effects are nonspecific,
multifactorial, and happen years after the initial exposure. Yet
this opinion is supported by the dose-dependent effect of dioxins
found in exposed workers and by experimental animal studies.
The scary thing was that the bombing of this plastics factory was
only a small part of the massive destruction which took place. To
get a better feel for the amount of chemicals released, you need to
take into account many other issues such as the widespread
destruction of the oil fuel stores, the petrol stations, the
electrical power stations (a massive 37 tonnes of carcinogenic PCBs
-chemicals with similar effects to dioxins were released from the
electricity transformer near Sidon), and the thousands of other
buildings in Lebanon. Artificial and highly toxic synthetic
chemicals are found in high levels in all of these places and so
their uncontrolled extensive release in the environment as a direct
result of the bombing will have created an environmental disaster
for mankind and wildlife alike. (5)
And whilst it may have superficially seemed to have affected just
Lebanon, like global warming, chemical pollution is a global
problem. This is because these events will also have resulted in
huge quantities of dioxins, furans and PCB’s being launched into the
atmosphere. Once there, they can travel for thousands and thousands
of miles and can settle on land or water at any point on this
journey. So the entire region and the whole planet will have been
affected to some degree.
OK, so what can be done about this problem? Well the first and most
important thing is to recognise it is an issue. Once you do this you
will be half way there, as you will then be motivated to find a way
forwards and have the patience to implement a remedy as it will not
happen overnight. Indeed as an academic, medic, author but also as a
mother with a young family, I have been intensively researching this
particular issue for over 10 years now, as chemical pollution is
unfortunately a global problem affecting every one to different
degrees. And as the production of synthetic chemicals doubles
approximately every ten years, the health damage caused by chemicals
will continue to climb.
However there is a way forwards. This is due to the fact that,
despite the difference in methods of exposure, the chemicals used
and created by the war are the same or very similar to those people
pay for in the West when they buy products such as foods treated
with synthetic pesticides, drinks contaminated with environmental
pollutants, cosmetics filled with plastics pesticides and artificial
fragrances, medicines made from synthetic chemicals, the latest
plastic household gadget and indeed most goods on sale. It also
doesn't matter in what form chemicals enter the body, since dioxins
entering the body from a polluted fire from a bombed factory near
Tyre or dioxins entering the body from a polluted fish you have just
eaten at an expensive restaurant in London will poison you just the
same. This is why whether you live in London, Riyadh, Cairo, Abu
Dhabi, Paris or Beirut, the treatment involves the same methods, ie
cutting down on future and current exposure to toxic chemicals, and
giving the body what it needs to maximise our ability to process and
rid ourselves of these chemicals.
Since levels of chemicals have grown so high in the population in
the west from their ever continuing growth in exposure to chemicals,
I am regularly dealing with people who have had their health damaged
by chemicals, the same and similar to those used and released by the
aftermath of Lebanon's July War. I have also found that people who
have had their health damaged by the same chemicals found in the
aftermath of Lebanon’s July War have been able to improve their
health significantly and often dramatically, by following the simple
but comprehensive advice mentioned in my latest book, Toxic Overload
(Penguin Putnam USA 2005)
So whilst people living in Lebanon who have lived through this July
war have been hit badly from a massive dose of chemicals, their
awareness of the health problems posed by toxic chemicals is of
vital importance, not only to enable them to adapt to living in a
now permanently polluted country, but also to recognise and avoid
the increasing globally available tide of chemically polluted
products now available in ever increasing volumes. Indeed Lebanon
should not be particularly singled out in being polluted since many
other countries are far more noticeably affected. These include
countries such as Hong Kong where regular levels of air pollution
from the high volumes of traffic has reportedly even caused one in
ten tourists to suffer pollution linked health problems whilst
visiting the country. (6)
Fortunately, due to their lower every day exposure to chemicals in
their everyday products and to their better diet, which is more
naturally produced, the people of Lebanon do have a considerable
advantage to most people in the West. Whilst this will have
protected the Lebanese people to some extent, once the level of
pollution rises to a certain degree, the body needs a much higher
level of nutrients than can be gained from even the best nutritious
foods, in order to process and rid itself of the chemicals which it
can shift by itself. To give the body the higher level of nutrients
it now needs to function with this extra detoxification burden from
the ever increasing level of chemicals, it is possible to take
certain supplements to support and strengthen the body's
detoxification systems as well as to ensure the normal nutrient
demands are met.
Care also needs to be taken in the choice of food eaten in Lebanon,
such as avoiding animal meats which have been farmed a few miles
away from some of the more polluted sites. As animals tend to
accumulate chemicals from plants, as they are higher up the food
chain, it is a sensible precaution to eat more vegetables. Fish are
also a potential problem as (despite being an excellent source of
certain essential omega 3 oils) they accumulate many of the
contaminants present in polluted oceans and rivers. Again once this
is known, it is possible to adapt behaviour so that foods which can
absorb these toxins can be consumed at the same time as a
potentially polluted meat or fish meal, making these essential foods
a great deal safer.
So while there is no doubt about the many health problems that
current and future generations will be facing due to the chemical
fallout following the July bombing, there are many things which can
be done which not only protect people travelling to the Lebanon on
holiday, but also those living in the most polluted areas in Lebanon
and the adjacent countries. It just takes some knowledge and a
willingness to make a few easy lifestyle changes. Awareness and
understanding are the first steps.
“Lebanon’s Toxic Chemical Environment, The Deadly Legacy of the July
2006 War.”
Copyright © Dr Paula Baillie-Hamilton 2007
The Author Dr Paula Baillie-Hamilton MD PhD
--Visiting Fellow in Occupational and Environmental Health, Stirling
University, Scotland, UK.
--Author of 'Toxic Overload' published by Penguin Putnam (NY 2005)
An Arabic translation of this book is to be published Spring 2008 by
dar el-farasha (http://www.darelfarasha.com/)
This book deals with identifying the highest sources of toxic
chemicals in our food, homes and environment and how to reduce our
exposure to the most polluted sources. It also details how all the
major 'modern' illnesses people are affected by (such as asthma,
allergies, M.E. cancer, heart disease, hormonal problems, childhood
developmental problems like ADHD autism and dyslexis, brain and
nerve diseases, infertility and many other health problems) are
triggered or exacerbated by which chemicals. It also outlines the
natural methods available in order to detoxify effectively and
safely.
www.slimmingsystems.com
References:
1.
http://www.oilspilllebanon.org/articles/Witnessing War.pdf.
2. Adverse health effects in humans exposed to
2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD). Authors: Pelclova D,
Urban P, Preiss J, Lukas E, Fenclova Z, Navratil T, Dubska Z,
Senholdova Z. Rev Environ Health. 2006 Apr-Jun; 21(2): 119-38.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=16898675&ordinalpos=2&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
3. Endocrine biomarkers of early fetal loss in cynomolgus
macaques (Macaca fascicularis) following exposure to dioxin. Guo Y,
Hendrickx AG, Overstreet JW, Dieter J, Stewart D, Tarantal AF,
Laughlin L, Lasley BL. Biol Reprod.1999 Mar;60(3):707-13.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=10026120&ordinalpos=12&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
4. Maternal serum dioxin levels and birth outcomes in women
of Seveso, Italy. Eskenazi B, Mocarelli P, Warner M, Chee WY,
Gerthoux PM, Samuels S, Needham LL, Patterson DG Jr. Environ Health
Perspect. 2003 Jun; 111(7):947-53.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?Db=pubmed&Cmd=ShowDetailView&TermToSearch=12782497&ordinalpos=4&itool=EntrezSystem2.PEntrez.Pubmed.Pubmed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum
5. Amnesty International’s report “Israel/Lebanon Deliberate
destruction or "collateral damage"? Israeli attacks on civilian
infrastructure”
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index/ENGMDE180072006
6.
http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Hong_Kong_Pollution_Leaves_Tourists_Choking.html
