Menace of pollution

Sir, - In his article entitled ``A conspiracy of silence'' (The Hindu, Sept. 24), the noted environmentalist Mr. Anil Agarwal has made a moving appeal on the control of high levels of benzene (known to cause leukaemias) in the atmospheric air of Indian cities, particularly Delhi, for public awareness. It is true that any combustion source, whether static or mobile, causes certain amounts of emission of carcinogenic aromatic hydrocarbons. Early findings of General Motors Research centre have evidence showing that aromatic hydrocarbons in two-stroke engines far exceed those from the four-stroke engines. As two and three wheelers are the necessary modes of transportation for the bulk of the population of India, the engine industries are directing their efforts to improve the emission performance of engines powering these vehicles by innovations in engine design or alternative fuel formulations.

Unfortunately, one important fuel from renewable sources has sadly been forgotten in India, namely the use of ethanol, though plenty of research is credited to Indian scientists, particularly those from IITs, IIP, and leading universities. Apart from reducing the regulated emissions, it also contributes to reduce burden on the imported petroleum fuels the prices of which are soaring up to record levels. Bulk of discharge of benzene emission is due to increased content of aromatics in petrol to upgrade its octane number, particularly now since the use of lead additives as anti-knock agent is fast phasing out. Instead of adding aromatics, the octane number of commercial petrol can be boosted by blending with 7 to 10 per cent of ethanol without requiring major changes to vehicles or the fuel system infrastructure.

B. S. Murthy,

Chennai

Sir, - In my rejoinder (The Hindu, Oct. 15) to Mr. Anil Agarwal's article ``A conspiracy of silence'', I had raised objections to the way he had discredited the cancer treatment facilities in the country, based on his anecdotal experience in Delhi.

As mentioned in my rejoinder, the need to have a tight control over the environmental factors, including the use of tobacco, is necessary and mandatory.

My objection was only to his generalising statements on the treatment facilities for cancer in the country, when he has had experience with institutions in Delhi only. There are excellent cancer centres in the country second to none in the world like the Cancer Institute (WIA), Chennai; Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai; Gujarat Cancer Centre in Ahmedabad and therefore his conclusions drawn from his experience only are unjustifiable. Comparisons are invidious and undesirable but since Mr. Agarwal has drawn comparisons, we would like to bring to his notice that as far as cancer facilities and teaching are concerned no general hospital, including those in the corporate sector, in the country can compare with the cancer centres at Chennai, Mumbai or Ahmedabad. The facilities for cancer treatment, research, prevention and education at these centres compares favourably with the best in the world and no corporate hospital can in anyway approach those standards by a long, long way.

Any genuine evaluation of therapeutic facilities in medical institutions can be done only by an expert commission and not even by a medical individual, let alone a totally lay figure.

T. Rajkumar,

Chennai

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