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KwaZulu-Natal town has deadly secret
By Omeshnie Naidoo
February 21 2005 - Dhiren Sobaren and his friends have a dark secret they've been keeping for years. The 22-year-old University of Pretoria dentistry student has aplastic anaemia - a form of leukaemia - not too strange in isolation, unless you consider a number of his home town friends have died from or are living with the same sickness.
Dhiren is from Dannhauser.
Tucked away in a far corner of KwaZulu-Natal, the people of the mining town, formerly known as Durnacol, are plagued by the deadly disease they cannot account for.
With a small population of 2 678 people, young and old both have leukaemia and other types of cancer that researchers believe could be caused by the powerlines they live under or nearby.
The issue has been controversial since the early Wertheiner and Leeper study of 1979, when it was first reported that children living in high current wire code homes had an elevated risk of developing cancer.
Today the debate continues, with no decision being made either way.
Dr Neil Cherry (1946-2003), who was associate professor of en-vironmental health at Lincoln University in New Zealand, stated on his website that electro magnetic forces and radiation damage DNA and enhance cell death rates. Therefore there is no safe threshold.
However, what most researchers agree on is that where there is a possible risk, people should be moved.
Local environmental activist Muna Lakani said that consensus suggested people should not live within a 300m radius of powerlines for more than 20 years.
Dannhauser Secondary School, a grade 0 to grade 12 institution, where Dhiren and his friends all studied, is only a few metres away from a row of pylons that run through backyards and in between houses in Dannhauser.
"At least six of my friends have some form of cancer. Some have complex blood problems and others are having trouble falling pregnant.
"I was born and brought up in Dannhauser. The residents here can rattle off names of those who have died and those who have cancer. But the stigma of the disease still exists in our community. Some people don't want others to know, but because it is so common here, we all recognise the symptoms."
Dhiren's mother, Rekha Sobaren, said: "Dhiren bruised easily and later had trouble breathing. I can't believe how we thought for so long that it was just the flu."
Sobaren said though she missed her son, she was glad he was studying in Pretoria.
"I feel that he is safe there," she said.
Waiting to be registered for a bone marrow transplant, the would-be doctor recalled bitterly that this February will be exactly one year since he lost his next door neighbour and close friend, Avin Maharaj.
Avin's parents, Harry and Meena Maharaj, who live on Jasmine Street, were open about their loss.
Their house stands next to a pylon on a vacant plot. Across the road is Dannhauser Secondary.
In the Maharaj home are pictures of the smiling young man - an obvious attempt to fill the void left behind.
"Avin was 24 years old when he died. He passed away only a year after we discovered he had cancer," said Meena Maharaj.
"Avin had lymphoma and was diagnosed by a doctor at Albert Luthuli Hospital. We would travel to Durban for treatment often, as it was not available here.
"During the day there is no doctor available in the area and when Avin fell ill, we'd have to rush him to a hospital in Newcastle.
"He was our only son, the family breadwinner and light in our home.
"Two weeks before he died, Avin went fishing. He only had one chemotherapy treatment left."
His cousin, Durban medical student Preesha Premsagar, said he would often talk of others his age who had cancer.
"Someone he knew was in re-mission and died suddenly. The thought of it worried him. He was scared of dying, but I think he thought he had more time. His death was a shock to us."
Harry Maharaj said when he bought the land he never suspected the power lines on the next door plot could harm his family.
"I worked on the mine and when it closed we bought houses here. This is our home. People have left and many houses stand vacant - they don't sell. Most of us are retired and can't afford to move."
Dr Rajesh Neerahoo, local GP in Dannhauser, who also lives on Jasmine Street, right next door to the pylons, said he had noticed the unusual prevalence of cancer in the area.
"There are many factors that could cause cancer and the pylons are a big factor."
I bought my house privately, but the many houses in front of my own - built alongside the powerlines - are to my knowledge part of a council scheme. The people who live there really have no choice."
Another of Dhiren's friends is 26-year-old Ashika Sooku, who has lived in Dannhauser all her life.
Sooku was diagnosed with stomach cancer and skin cancer five years ago. She said some of the symptoms were unbearable.
"At the moment, I've broken out in a rash and my skin is itchy
all the time. I take oral chemotherapy every three months at Newcastle Hospital. This helps me keep fluids and soft food down. I eat a lot of stews. Everything else, I throw up."
Sooku, like others in the town, said she found the prevalence of cancer very strange, but because of that prevalence it had become a common problem and thus one they accepted as familiar.
Sixty-year-old Billy Singh, a former primary school teacher at Dannhauser Secondary - which Dhiren, Avin and Ashika attended - is living with cancer too.
Singh, who has cancer of the colon, which has since spread to his liver, taught in the school for 15 years and has lived on the school road for 24 years.
"This is not a wealthy community. To get treatment we have to travel to other towns, or to Durban or Johannesburg. Some people are ill, but don't receive any treatment because their medical aid won't cover it and they can't afford it."
"I haven't completed my chemotherapy because my medical aid was exhausted. I can only resume treatment when they say so."
The local pharmacist, 53-year-old Hoosain Mahomedy, was diagnosed with Hogkinson's Lymphoma in 2001, but has been well for the past three years.
He said that he received chemotherapy treatment between 2001 and 2002 at R K Khan Hospital in Chatsworth and radium therapy at Addington Hospital, Durban.
He has lived in the area for the past 22 years, not far away from the school.
Environmental activist Muna Lakani said: "The negative health impacts of electro magnetic forces (EMF) are proven, and not in doubt. But it's the level at which harm takes place that is endlessly debated by industries such as Eskom and the cellphone companies.
"Ever since the famous Wertheimer & Leeper study of 1979, scientists have linked living near power lines to an increase in leukaemia in children."
Debate is still raging over powerlines and cancer
Driving up the N2, one sees these steel giants tower above the vast landscape as if asserting their authority.
As the debate around the links between powerlines and cancer rages, there are many people who have to live with the reality of the disease.
According to Succeed magazine, Eskom is the largest producer of electricity from coal in the world. They are also one of the cheapest.
E-mails to Fani Zulu, spokesperson for Eskom, dating back to August 16, have not yet yielded a response in relation to the link between powerlines, the electromagnetic forces (EMF) they create and the possible links to different types of cancer.
Numerous phone calls later, and another email on January 18, after which a report that never materialised was promised, they have still not replied.
The problem in Dannhauser and other parts of South Africa is that statistics available are not region specific and therefore one cannot find numbers within one area to compare with another.
Ayesha Sassman, information officer of the Cancer Association of South Africa, provided general statistics on Health24 website, stating only 16% of the population are reported to have lymphomas and 24 percent are reported to have leukaemia.
Environmental activist Muna Lakani was vehement about his position.
"The 'safe' annual exposure to radiation has dropped year after year, and is now a fraction of what was considered 'safe' 50 years ago - the truth is, certainly in the case of nuclear radiation, there is no such thing as a safe dose.
With regard to EMF, the evidence is clear - even slight exposure increases the risk of cancer," said Lakani.
"Regardless of the debate around what is considered a safe dose, we have ample provision in national legislation in the form of the National Environmental Management Act, that insists where a negative impact (even if not clearly proven at a particular level in this case) could exist, we should apply "the precautionary principle" - in that way, we will avoid further harm.
"All people living around and beneath power lines should be relocated, and no further dwellings should be allowed within the servitude in future," he added.
The symptoms of leukaemia
According to the American Cancer Society www.meds.com signs and symptoms of leukaemia are fatigue, paleness, weight loss, repeated infections and nose bleeds or other haemorrhages.
In children these signs appear suddenly. Chronic leukaemia can progress slowly and with few symptoms.
Leukaemia strikes both sexes and all ages. The causes in most cases are unknown.
It has also been linked to excessive exposure to ionising radiation and to certain chemicals, such as benzene and commercially used toxic liquid that is also present in lead-free petrol.
Certain forms of leukaemia and lymphoma are caused by a retro virus, HTLV-I (human T-cell leukaemia/lymphoma virus-I).
Leukaemia is not easy to detect, but may be picked up by a blood test and biopsy of the bone marrow.
Chemotherapy is still the most effective method of treatment.
There are also various anti-cancer drugs. People can undergo transfusions of blood components and anti-biotics.
To illuminate hidden cells, therapy of the central nervous system has become standard treatment, especially in acute lymphoblastic leukaemia.
Bone marrow transplants may be useful for some leukaemia.
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