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Diseased fish threaten human health: Expert
FISH WERE falling prey to deadly diseases, like cancer, due to the growing pollution in all the states. Consumption of such fish poses a serious threat to human health.
FISH WERE falling prey to deadly diseases, like cancer, due to the growing pollution in all the states. Consumption of such fish poses a serious threat to human health.
P Natrajan, professor in the School of Environmental Studies at the Cochin University of Science and Technology, said this while speaking to Hindustan Times.
Natrajan, who had come to deliver a lecture at the DAV College, said that recent studies have revealed that a large number of fish were suffering from various kinds of cancer. Besides, diseases like Epizooties Ulcerative Syndrome (EUS), hemorrhagic septicemia and fin-rot have also afflicted the fish population in the country. Due to this, the incidence of death in fish had gone up. Fish afflicted with the diseases have posed health hazards to the humans, he added.
Natrajan added that many fish had genes similar to humans and they could easily transmit their disease to humans.
The genes in the zebra fish were more close to the genes of humans and it had been selected for a model test for the study of cancer cells and its growth, he said.
Besides, many other fishes were also selected for test models of cancer studies at various research institutes, he added.
Natrajan said the studies have proved that the growing air and water pollution had affected the life of the aquatics and they were suffering from various diseases.
The high rate of pollution had made the fish living in fresh water, brackish water and at the coastal level badly sick and their population had been decreasing fast. Commercially viable fish species like mullet, chanos and etroplus and marine prawns like penaus, crabs and lobsters have declined and caused fiscal loss to the nation.
Natrajan said that the government and the people should make collective efforts to check the increasing pollution before it could become unmanageable. He said any damage to aquatic life would not only cause economic loss or loss to human health but also create an imbalance in the ecology.
In his lecture, Natrajan said that with the decline in aquatic life, humans would face food scarcity. He said according to an estimate, the country would have to import about 40 million tons of foodgrain to meet the requirement of the people in view of the depleting aquatic population.
On the occasion, the principal of the college, Dr Ashok Saxena, welcomed the guest and presided over the symposium. In his presidential address, Dr Saxena exhorted the students to work harder to improve the environment.
