Collective request to pay compensation to families of kidney-affected persons

Ishara Mudugamuwa

The Swarna Hansa Foundation and a group of farmers from Anuradhapura District made a collective request to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization Resident Representative to provide compensation for families of kidney affected persons.

Addressing the media yesterday at the UN office retired administrative officer Suriya Gunasekara said that there is a continuous increase of kidney affected persons and they are over 500,000, especially in the North Central and Uva Provinces and fast spreading to other areas as well.

More than 25,000 acute kidney patients were on their death beds, in the NCP alone. According to farmers the primary cause of kidney disease is not anything else but the lethal agricultural inputs known as agro chemicals which were introduced by the FAO under the Green Revolution in late 1960s.

Sri Lanka's agriculture sector has a history of more than 2,500 years and never heard of any disease spreading due to agricultural practices. According to Provincial Health Director Asanga Ranasinghe, 22,000 people died due to kidney diseases by February this year and another thousands died after they were discharged from hospitals and altogether more than 50,000 people had died due to this deadly disease.