The Rajarata kidney disease

This refers to the letter to the Editor by Dr  U.Pethiyagoda on the above subject published on 2nd July 2012.  In his letter he mentions the following among others. 

"A recent news item reveals that experts have concluded that heavy metal contaminants in drinking water in certain areas, may account for the kidney disease in the NCP. This has been causing immense distress and numerous deaths over the years. Now that the direction from which the arrow came seems to have been identified, perhaps we can now try to pull it out!"

"Meanwhile, several others (including Profs. C.S.Weeraratne and O.A. Illeperuma) have expressed their views. Prof. Nalin de Silva and his team created a diversion by invoking "Samyakdrushtika Devi Devatavas". Deaths and distress have continued!"

I am not sure whether Dr. Pethiyagoda is referring to the news item on the recent WHO report on the CKD. A news item on this particular report, as reported in the "Daily News", on 30th June 2012,  has a reference to Arsenic as one of the heavy metals. " World Health Organization (WHO) has revealed that one of the key causative factors for the mystery chronic kidney ailments suffered by people in the North Central Province is co exposure to low concentration of Nephrotoxic heavy metals.

Nephrotoxic heavy metals include cadmium and arsenic." 

It was our group at Kelaniya that mentioned Arsenic first and if it was a diversion the group is  happy to have been instrumental in drawing the attention  of "experts" and others to this toxic substance with respect to CKD.   

It may be true that "murunga seed powder can be a most effective and accessible means of removing many heavy metal contaminants (including all that are implicated in our problem)" as stated by Dr. Pethiyagoda, but we also know from "Samyakdrushtika Devi Devatavas".that Kovakka is also a purifying "agent". In any event I am glad to report that our group is now treating the CKD patients on an "experimental basis" in a selected area, of course, with the help of the "Samyakdrushtika Devi  Devatavas " .

Nalin de Silva.

Devivaru, Arsenic and Science -IV

The Arsenic issue does not allow me to analyse current politics and give my two cents worth “predictions” in detail. However, before I continue with my reply to Professors Upali Samarajeewa and Oliver Ileperuma let me state that the UPFA with its resounding victory at local government elections has pushed the UNP and the JVP into one corner, and it is inevitable that they will jointly fight against the nationalistic forces with the support of the TULF or ITAK or TNA, whatever the name the latter would use depending on the political situation. All three names refer to the same political force, albeit with negligible differences and the President having consolidated his position outside the Northern Province is now gradually eating into the vote base of the above mentioned parties in the North. Tamil nationalism as we have pointed over and over again is working top down and with the present development programme in the Northern Province, the TULF with its racist policies will have to follow the UNP and the JVP.

Let me come back to Devivaru, Arsenic and Science. Dr. Samarajeewa and many others are concerned about publishing in so called peer review journals, and think that the Kelaniya group sometimes erroneously called the Kelaniya Rajarata group, (it is true that in our group we have a young academic from Rajarata University, but he is there in his capacity as a research student at Kelaniya) should have published in these magic journals without going to press. We did not originally publish our results or methods in so called peer reviewed journals for number of reasons. One of the reasons was that as the leader of the group I believe that the necessity to publish results and methods in some format arises not only as a result of conveying to the others the “new” results but also as a way of giving as many as possible to respond to the article concerned. In our case we are studying a problem that is of concern to the public and the government, and as such opportunities had to be given to as many as possible to take part in the discussion. Besides publishing in a peer reviewed journal does not give anybody a guarantee that the method and the results are correct. As I have already mentioned the contents of some thirty percent of the papers published in Nature and Science, supposed to be the most prestige of the lot, are proved to be wrong by the others within a few years.

We are concerned with the Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease and we are ninety nine percent sure that it is caused mainly by Arsenic that forms Calcium Arsenate after reacting with Calcium salts found in hard water in Rajarata and other relevant areas. Of course, there is another factor involved, namely the soil in these areas which has the ability to retain Arsenic. The absence of this particular soil is the reason that there is no incidence of the disease in Hambantota and other places though there is Arsenic and hard water in those areas as well. As I have said on many occasions if we had enough bodies of dead Rajarata Kidney patients we probably would have confirmed our results with hundred percent certainty. Then the question was popped up as to how these areas gained Arsenic in the first place. After a number of observations it was not difficult to conclude that Arsenic was absorbed into the soil in Rajarata and other areas from Agro Chemicals including pesticides. It has to be pointed out that Arsenic is not present naturally in Sri Lanka, which could be verified by Geologists and Chemists by going deep and taking samples of earth. The quantities of Arsenic found on the surface and up to about ten feet below the surface are what have been added by humans through various means, such as agriculture based on agrochemicals.

We are interested in finding a cure to the disease and we are happy that a public opinion has been created already as a result of releasing the results of our investigation to the newspapers. If we had submitted our results to so called peer reviewed journals it is very likely that the manuscript would still be on the desk of the reviewer. What we have realized is that Arsenic in agrochemicals, have found its way into the hard water in the affected area after been absorbed by the particular soil found in the area and formed Calcium Arsenate that causes the disease. Though Prof. Samarajeewa tries to make a hue and cry over rice we have never said that eating rice is the cause of the disease. In any event it was not us who said first that Arsenic is found in rice, and in this connection the credit should go to Prof. Ranjith Jayasekera, senior professor of Botany, please note the “of” rather than “in” implying that he is the so called chair professor, who won a Presidential award for this particular paper that disclosed the presence of Arsenic in rice. After that two other groups had found Arsenic in rice and I cannot understand why Prof. Samarajeewa is obsessed with our finding which is inconsequential to us as far as the Chronic Kidney Disease is concerned.

Though we have not published our results so far, we have divulged our results and methods at five seminars/presentations to the so called scientists in Sri Lanka who are concerned with the problem. They were at seminars/presentations organized by the WHO, the Ministry of Research and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, Medical Faculty of the University of Rajarata and the secretariat of the Prime Minister. It is because of our revelations that the Registrar of Pesticides (RoP) had to test for Arsenic in 28 brands of pesticides at the ITI, which has so far tested positively in 9 of the brands. We note that the RoP has taken steps to ban the 9 brands in Sri Lanka and also that the Sri Lanka Customs have retained more than a dozen of containers with pesticides based on our findings as well as of others. If we went through the peer reviewed journals these 9 brands of pesticides would have been available in the market and the containers would have been released.

I must reiterate that I am not inclined to publish in so called peer reviewed research journals except under very special circumstances, and I believe in communicating my ideas to the others for discussion, criticism, testing etc., through newspapers, websites blogs and other such media. Also I believe in the Buddhist method of “Ehi Passiko” or see for yourself, rather than in the Biblical tradition of quoting chapter and verse. Prof. Samarajeewa may be unfamiliar with our methods as he and all of us have been trained and forced at schools and universities to follow the western Christian tradition. Ehi Passiko was only for the period where we “studied” Buddhism while practicing Christianity in culture that includes traditions. I know that Prof. Samarajeewa and most of the other so called scientists do not know that there are methods of communication other than those demanded by the western Christian colonialist culture that he has imbibed at the fountains at Peradeniya through western science as an undergraduate, and I would like to find out whether it is the western scientific tradition that demands us to follow their methods of communication to the exclusion of others.

I must inform Prof. Samarajeewa that we are not quick publicity seekers nor people waiting to jump a bandwagon in his words. I have been criticizing western science for more than twenty five years losing my job at the University of Colombo as a consequence, and we have now come to a point where the technicians who masquerade as western scientists in Sri Lanka cannot ignore that there are other sciences based on different cultures and different chinthanayas. Our “finding” that Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease is caused by Arsenic, first revealed by Natha Deviyo and Vipasaka Deviyo, though has been verified to a certainty of ninety nine percent using western scientific techniques (in fact what is meant by scientific method by most of the masqueraders is techniques and nothing else), confirms that there are ways of acquiring knowledge other than those prescribed in the western Christian science. Our western medical doctors would tell anybody who is interested how the study was guided by the Devivaru and I only hope that the Sri Lanka Medical Council would not decide to cancel their registration as western medical practitioners for divulging those facts. In any event we are of the opinion that the Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease is a form of cancer, though it may not be of the same type as any other Kidney disease known hitherto.

Finally a comment on the last paragraph of Prof. Samarjeewa’s article. He asks the following questions attributing them to ordinary people. “Leaving science out for a minute, the questions raised by the ordinary public are: "We all eat rice in Sri Lanka, which is supposed to be contaminated with arsenic and how come only the people in the North Central Province have been affected by arsenic? What will be the fate of our cattle eating the paddy straw?" Should we stop drinking local milk too?” The answers are as follows. Rice has never been stated as the cause of the Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease by our group. Thus those who eat rice anywhere in Sri Lanka would not be affected by Arsenic as far as the Kidney Disease is concerned. At present we do not have any evidence to show that milk is affected by Arsenic, and our investigation is not geared towards any organ of cattle eating straw. However the cattle who live on straw should take extra precautions if they decide to ask silly questions and to write articles to the press.(11/07/27)

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

Devivaru, Arsenic and Science - III

My reply to Prof. Carlo Fonseka can be postponed as it is more abstract, and compels me to go into a discussion on the so called Scientific Method at a deeper level than in the case of replies to Professors Oliver Ileperuma and Upali Samarajeewa. Currently what is more important is the direct impact of the comments by these learned scientists on research into the Rajarata Kidney disease and I would like to delve into the articles by Professors Ileperuma and Samarajeewa. Mr. Suranimala’s article that appeared on 11th July needs no elaborate reply as he is arguing at the level of a schoolboy. He merely says if Devivaru are capable of identifying Arsenic in samples of soil and water then there is no use of laboratories and scientists as the Devivaru could advice us on everything. The fallacy of his argument lies exactly there. From the experience of Arsenic he generalizes to other phenomena as well without knowing that even if the Devivaru are capable of giving us knowledge on all topics in a given field, they would not do so for the simple reason that their “divya balaya” would vanish if they do so. I do not want to go into a detailed discussion on this and all that I have to say at this juncture is that the samyak drshtika devivaru would communicate to us only that knowledge needed to make Sri Lanka a Dharmadweepa again. The devivaru are interested in taking out the farmers from the modern western agriculture which not only adds poison to food, in spite of so called food scientists of the caliber of world renowned Dr. Upali Samarajeewa who describes himself as an international expert in laboratory accreditation addressing the food safety issues associated with global trade, but also kills pests. It may be that in this era of super specialization Dr. Samarajeewa’s expertise is more on laboratory accreditation rather than directly on food safety issues. The devivaru are interested also in the welfare of the pests and also of the farmers, and want the latter to refrain from killing pests using pesticides with or without Arsenic. They are also interested in curing the Rajarata Kidney patients and any knowledge communicated to us would be along those lines. Certainly the devivaru would not tell us in advance the winner of the next one day international match Sri Lanka cricket team would play nor the winner of the next horse race.

We will first take Dr. Samarajeewa who albeit being an international expert has not done his homework properly. For example in his article on the 24th of June in “The Island” he says: “According to the information released to the press by the scientists who claim presence of arsenic in Sri Lankan rice, they have detected concentrations of 0.1 ppm. According to the information released by ITI concentrations of 0.334, 0.166 and 0.370 have been reported for 3 out of 28 samples tested and the Agriculture Department has indicated that those breed lines reported by ITI to be high, would be withdrawn. While these findings indicate presence of arsenic, the detected concentrations need not be used to create a public alarm, rather than addressing at the forum of scientists to bring in necessary controls, if required.” The figures he quotes from ITI are related to three brands of pesticides and not rice. A world renowned scientist is not supposed to mix data whether with respect to arsenic or food.

It has to be stated that the Registrar of Pesticides (RoP) is trying to confuse people or he is confused as to what is found in the samples of pesticides. We at Kelaniya have analysed 28 samples of pesticides and found that all of them contain Arsenic to some extent or other. The ITI on the other hand found Arsenic in 9 of the samples. What we are interested is in the presence of Arsenic and not with whether Arsenic found is associated with certain Chemicals or not. When the (RoP) tells the public pesticides contain only in three chemicals people are confused to say the least.

In any event our primary investigation is not on the presence of Arsenic in rice as we are interested in finding the cause(s) of Rajarata Kidney Disease and in finding a cure for the unfortunate victims who have no hope whatsoever in western medicine that does not know the origin of the disease. We have found Arsenic in rice though not in somewhat high proportion it is found in rice produced in USA. Rice has been given prominence by the media and unfortunately the government and some well meaning people have fallen into the trap of the importers of pesticides. They claim that there is no Arsenic in any pesticide that they import, but the Sri Lanka customs has taken steps to retain some containers with pesticides for presence of Arsenic based on tests done at other laboratories as well. Apparently these importers want to file a case against me in the courts of Sri Lanka, and I welcome the idea as I would be able to address the people from the courts. If somebody wants to ring the alarm bell on Arsenic in rice let him do so but for us it is not a big issue as rice is not a cause of the Rajarata Kidney Disease and we know that people do not die as a result of eating rice and curry.

Dr. Samarajeewa concentrates on his pet topic of method. Almost all the scientists in Sri Lanka are engaged in normal science in a Kuhnian sense and they are very much bothered about the so called scientific method though not in the sense of Prof. Carlo Fonseka. It is unfortunate that almost all the so called scientists in Sri Lanka are technicians who follow standard techniques given in text books or research papers, and most of them would not have heard of Popper, Kuhn or Feyarabend. I have come across Professors in Chemistry in Sri Lanka who have not heard of Theoretical Chemistry. For most of the so called scientists in Sri Lanka the scientific method is nothing but procedure that has to be adopted when doing tests. It is all about collection of samples, testing them under so called proper conditions, washing of test tubes and beakers, digestion, heating, using acids and other chemicals with “proper” concentrations etc. These may be important but as far as the scientific method in epistemology is concerned they are mundane practices and nothing more. I am not a believer in the scientific method even in an epistemological sense and I am more than happy to hear that the importers of pesticides have decided to indict me in courts as it will give me an opportunity to show not only that there is no scientific method but that matters concerned with science can be decided by people with no formal knowledge of science. This is an important issue as it has repercussion in the area of publication in so called research journals on which “scientists” such as Dr. Samarajeewa have very adamant views.

For these so called scientists the most important in western science are the so called method which is nothing other than procedures and publication in peer reviewed scientific journals. As I mentioned last week Dr. Samarajeewa has given inadvertently an example that goes against his argument that the western scientists should publish in peer reviewed journals. He has mentioned the case of a brilliant scientist from Sri Lanka who had withdrawn an article published in Nature (Nature and Science are supposed to be the pinnacle of scientific journals) after it was shown by scientists other than the reviewers that the content and conclusions, not the so called method according to Dr. Samarajeewa and others, were wrong. I have been informed that, according to an article published in “The Economist” some thirty percent of the papers published in Nature and Science after peer reviewing are found to be wrong within two or three years of publication. So much for so called peer reviewing by experts in the field.

Publication of scientific journals is also big business with Nature group publishing more than thirty journals. Research is funded by armed forces, big companies like agro chemical producers, government in countries such as Sri Lanka through the Universities, research institutes etc., and publication of scientific journals is not different from publication of newspapers as far as the proprietors are concerned. There is no democracy at all in the publication industry in the field of science, and proliferation of scientific journals in the recent past gives ample testimony to the control of these journals by big industry.

I am for publication in journals (may be e journals) without so called peer reviewing to which even the general public can contribute and should have access in any event. The fact that the Arsenic issue has become public is good as after all it is the politicians who would finally take important decisions regarding banning or not of pesticides with any toxic material. The politicians however corrupt they may be are responsible to the people, and at least once in a few years they have to go before the public, where as the so called scientists are not responsible to the general public once they are appointed to various posts. The politicians when they have to take decisions will have to consider the will of the public at least to a certain extent and we have to make science or knowledge for that matter of the official practitioners. As said of war, science (western or otherwise) is too serious business to be left in the hands of scientists only.

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

Crucifixion of Prof. Nalin De Silva

As a physicist and a student of Prof. Nalin De Silva I strongly condemn the action taken against him by a group of science faculty academics at the University of Kelaniya and the Sri Lankan Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS). According to the media reports, SLAAS had virtually threatened the members of his research group to dissociate themselves from Prof. Nalin De Silva, while the Science faculty academics have sought intervention from the vice chancellor to put an end to his work on the Rajarata Kidney Disease. What these two groups have done is both unprofessional and unethical. While trying to discredit Prof. Nalin De Silva and his groups’ recent work on the issue of Rajarata Kidney Disease they themselves have abandoned ethical conduct in science. Scientists should rightly demand that inferences made through scientific research are logical and are consistent with the experimental data and facts. If these academics had any issues with Prof. De Silva’s work, as scientists they should have made their arguments solely on the inaccuracies and inconsistencies, if any, of Prof. De Silva’s results and conclusions setting aside all egos, hatreds etc. This is what Scientists are trained to do and is expected of them by the general public who pay their salaries. SLAAS and the science faculty academics have failed to live up to it. Further, Prof. De Silva had publicly invited all who had concerns about his group’s work to visit their laboratory to see how they carried out specific experiments. If they were genuinely interested, being from the same institute, the Science faculty academics should have taken this opportunity to investigate for themselves if they had any doubts about Prof. De Silva’s group’s results. This would have been the most socially responsible thing to do. They did not do this either. Instead of being objective, SLAAS and the science faculty academics have resorted to a child like smearing campaign against Prof. Nalin De Silva, which appear to be based on sentimentalities rather than science. Indeed a very sad state of affairs.

Then there is a more important question of accountability. The greater issue at stake here is not Prof. Nalin De Silva’s reputation or any other person’s or institution’s reputation for that matter, but the health and well being of thousands of paddy farmers in Rajarata. Those who conduct smear campaigns against him essentially threaten to shut down his group’s future works which according to Prof. De Silva include finding a cure for the disease and promoting wholesome methods of paddy cultivation. The people of Rajarata cannot afford an ego battle at their expense. If the SLAAS or the Science faculty academics think that this work should be stopped because of its poor science then they may do so with plausible arguments while holding themselves accountable to the general public, especially to those Rajarata families who are undergoing immense suffering because of the disease. Will they stand up to that responsibility? If so, can the SLAAS or the science faculty academics produce an alternative solution to the Rajarata kidney disease? If not why should the public take them seriously?

Janaka Wansapura, PhD

Devivaru, Arsenic and Science - II

A number of Sri Lankan “scientists” have expressed their opinions on Arsenic and Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease (RCKD) and also on the so called scientific method. Prof. Ajit Abeysekera is mainly interested in seeing that our work is published in a peer reviewed journal so that the information is available in the public domain. We are in the process of publishing our results in a journal or proceedings of a scientific session of an “accepted” association but in the meantime I must say if anybody is interested in our method of detecting Arsenic in “hard water” found in Rajarata areas we could provide it without waiting for the publication, provided of course we are requested to do so in writing. In fact we have provided the method to Water Resource Board and they have tested positive for Arsenic and also for Mercury in samples provided by the Sri Lankan customs. Thus in a sense the information is already in the public domain though the “publications are not peer reviewed as such”. I thank Prof. Abeysekera for his suggestion but I have to reiterate my position, albeit not that of the Kelaniya group, that I prefer to publish my original work in newspapers as they can be judged by a bigger audience, though they may not be so called experts in the field. I must also sate that peer reviewing does not make sure that a paper is “correct” as it is judged by only two experts and I doubt very much that the reviewers carry out the experiments themselves to see that the methods and contents are correct. In fact in certain cases the samples are not available to them and they can only check whether the standard procedure had been followed. The real testing comes only after the publication, by other groups interested in the work and in our case any group is free to test our method in their laboratories without waiting for the publication. The case pointed out by Prof. Upali Samarajeewa regarding a paper published in Nature which had to be apparently withdrawn subsequently, in fact goes against what he wishes to establish. I will discuss this in more detail later when I come to the articles by Professors Ileperuma and Samrajeewa hopefully in the next installment.

For the moment I would like to concentrate on what Prof. Carlo Fonseka has written on Arsenic, RCKD and scientific process. While Professors Ileperuma and Samarajeewa, attempt to find fault with “playing god” Prof. Fonseka has no objection to receiving ideas from devivaru. I quote Prof. Fonseka at length from his article on “Aesenic, RCKD and scientific process” published on 22nd June in the Midweek Review. “In practice the scientific process is HYPOTHETICO-DEDUCTIVE. This means that it essentially involves formulating a hypothesis to explain a given set of observations in the real world and then deducing consequences from the hypothesis which can be rigorously tested experimentally to see whether the results square with the hypothesis. A hypothesis is simply an explanatory conjecture. Therefore formulating a hypothesis means nothing more than having some explanatory idea. The process of having ideas itself is, of course, outside logic. Therefore Prof. Nalin de Silva’s claim that the idea (hypothesis) that Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease (RCKD) is caused by arsenic came from devivaru is totally acceptable as a hypothesis. The pragmatist American philosopher C.S. Peirce (1839 – 1914) once said that hypotheses often come from "the spontaneous conjectures of instinctive reasoning." Thus, how the hypothesis that RCKD is caused by arsenic came to Prof. de Silva does not matter at all. The important thing is to test it rigorously to see whether it is true. Prof. Ajit has lucidly laid down the procedure acceptable to modern science for doing so.

I believe that what scientists should do is to offer explanations for things that happen in real life that others can verify for themselves for the purpose of promoting human welfare. Nobel Laureate for Medicine Sir Peter Medawar, FRS, once remarked that are building explanatory structures, telling stories which are scrupulously tested to see if they are stories about real life." The Kelaniya group of scientists are also telling us stories and they must be scrupulously tested along the lines suggested by Prof. Ajit. Who knows, they may turn out to be true. For my part, I do not believe that devivaru can help us one bit to achieve anything worthwhile in this world. In fact, I have been in the business of trying to demonstrate scientifically that some ‘miraculous’ things allegedly done entirely through the help of devivaru can be done without their help at all. I know, however, that for me to claim that my demonstrations are ‘scientific’ I am obliged to go through the process that Scientist Ajit Abeysekera has prescribed. Forty-one years ago I presented evidence to the Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science (SLAAS) that fire-walking can be done without divine aid. I give notice here that this year I expect to present evidence to SLAAS that there is nothing supernatural about the ritualistic ‘hanging on hooks’.”

I believe in the Sinhala Buddhist approach and for me “ehi passiko” or come and see is a better method than quoting experts, specialists or books. I am not a person who would quote chapter a verse an essentially Biblical approach. Our methods of detecting Arsenic in hard water and other substances are there for anybody to see, and if they come to our laboratories, after testing them in the tradition of Mahavira Bhikkus who tested Ven. Buddhaghosa Thera we will allow them to work there and see for themselves whether the method is correct. However, at the same time I know that the western Judaic Christian tradition is hegemonic at present and for the sake of western scientists trained in that tradition we have to adopt their methods as well if we want to get our results accepted by them. Personally that problem does not occur to me as I am not interested in their acceptance of my ideas and methods.

Prof. Peirce may be a world renowned philosopher as they say but even without him we know that ideas do not come in a logical manner. The logic, which is none other than the Aristotelian logic for the overwhelming majority of scientists is only an abstraction of day to day sensory perceptible experience. The problem is that there are extra sensory perceptible experience where Aristotelian logic is thoroughly inadequate. In our day to day experience we know that an object can be only at one position at a given time (it has to be emphasised that even time is an abstract concept, and cannot be perceived by human beings. Time is our creation or “pannaththi” in the words of Ven. Buddhaghosa Thera. Time arises or this particular concept – pannaththi is created by human beings, and perhaps by some other animals as well, due to change and our memory. If there is no change or no memory there is no need for the pannaththi called time) but it is possible for some objects (for example Quantum particles) to exist at more than one place at a given time. Prof. Fonseka who is familiar with Buddhist ideas would probably remember the story of Ven. Cullapanthaka Tissa Thera in this regard, though the Thera cannot be compared with Quantum particles. However, sometime ago when I was working on a reinterpretation of Quantum Mechanics I got the idea of a particle existing at different places at the same time from the story of Ven. Cullapanthaka Tissa Thera in our culture.

The ideas come in different ways to different people and I am glad that unlike Prof. Ileperuma and Samarajeewa Prof. Fonseka has no quarrel about the origin of ideas. However, it appears that even with respect to western Philosophy of Science Prof. Fonseka still lives in a pre Popperian world and he does not seem to follow Popper, Kuhn, Feyarabend or any other modern western philosophers of science. I must say that I am not insisting that Prof. Fonseka should follow them. However, the so called hypothetico – deductive method is not consistent with the development of western science. (To be continued) (2011/06/29 -The Island)

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

Channel Four and Killing Fields in Rajarata

Channel Four has done it again. Two years after the Nandikadal defeat of the LTTE, the infamous channel has come out with another footage on the so called killing fields in Sri Lanka. It is said that the Sri Lankan Army had been involved in war crimes during the last stages of the humanitarian operations and so many innocent Tamils had been killed while Tamil women had been raped. Channel Four has taken two years to produce this footage and may be few more videos are being prepared to release in the near future.

It is well known that the LTTE made use of three hundred thousand innocent people as a human shield during the last stages of the operations and the Sri Lankan government took a long time to defeat the LTTE as it did not want to cause any harm to the innocent Tamils. Unlike the Americans and the other westerners (especially NATO) who bomb innocent civilians in Libya, Afghanistan and other countries Sri Lankan armed forces did not resort to any such actions against humanity.

The question naturally arises as to why the Sri Lankan armed forces waited till the last stage of the humanitarian operations to engage in these so called mass killings. An army that had behaved as an exemplary military had apparently decided to turn into vultures all of a sudden towards the end. How did it happen? Why did the armed forces behave so only during the last stages? Do the western pundits have answers to these questions? Almost all the people who were held as a human shield by the LTTE have been resettled now and I am sure that these people would give the correct picture of what had happened during the last stages of the operations.

Killing Fields is a hackneyed expression of the western scriptwriters and other such pundits and they very often use it in reference to so called war crimes committed by non westerners. The Killing Fields due to the westerners are easily forgotten as they are the people who dominate the news media in the world, and also since the west has established its hegemony in creation and distribution of knowledge in general.

The Killing Fields of the west are not confined to battle fields. The multinationals control everything, and in Sri Lanka and in the rest of the so called third world, a term used by the westerners, there are so many other killing fields. The killing fields in the Rajarata area where more than twenty thousand people have died due to what is known as Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease Unidentified Etiology (RCKD Un et) is only one example. There are some pundits in Sri Lanka who object to the terminology RCKD claiming that such patients are found in other places such as Girandurukotte and Dehiaththakandiya outside the Rajarata area. The disease is called RCKD simply because the vast majority of the patients due to it are from Rajarata area.

Rajarata and other affected areas are also killing fields although Channel Four is not interested in making a movie on RCKD. For almost twenty years the cause of the disease was not known and that was the reason why Un Et had to be tagged on to the name of the disease. As I have explained in recent articles the group at Kelaniya University that study various aspects of the disease is ninety nine percent confident that the disease is due to Arsenic found in agrochemicals and mainly in pesticides. It has to be mentioned contrary to the view expressed by some scientists Arsenic is not found naturally in Sri Lankan soil and our studies with soil from Rajarata areas have confirmed this. Arsenic is found only up to a depth of about six to eight feet and the patterns are clearly indicative of introduction of Arsenic from the top of the soil.

We tested for Arsenic not only in the soil of Rajarata but in flora as well. Arsenic was found in rice as well and naturally we divulged these facts at a number of seminars and workshops held with learned scientists from universities. No objections were raised at these learned gatherings, and it cannot be said that our findings are not in the public domain as such. I of course have a different attitude to publishing in so called peer reviewed prestigious journals, though most of the members of our group do not endorse my views. Though I have a few papers published in international journals, including two papers in Nature in my younger days, for the last twenty five years after I broke away (my abhinishkramanya or renunciation) from western science in particular and western knowledge in general, I publish all my original ideas in The Island, Divaina and Vidusara all of which happen to be Upali Publications. I value these articles more than my papers in the so called prestigious journals, as they contain better original ideas, though the Sri Lankan Universities and the pundits therein do not recognize them as research papers and no points are given for them. However, our group did not publish their methods in so called refereed journals, not because they are not interested in having a paper or two in their names, but for the reason that they got the ideas through “unconventional methods” including Bhavana, and they were not sure as to whether the ideas belonged only to them. Anyhow now they have resolved the problem, and they would submit their papers to the standard journals.

There were lot of obstacles to our research even from the University itself and the opposition was led by a lady who has vested interests and who still goes around agitating against our research. We overcame these in the University but now all these elements including various government officials have got together to engage in a vicious campaign against us. It appears that they have gone to the highest levels but we will carry on with our work in the interests of the general public. We were mainly interested in the RCKD and did tests for Arsenic only in the relevant material. Rice was also tested and we found Arsenic in that substance but did not want to make a big fuss over it. Of course, we did not test bread or wheat flour or apples or imported butter as we were concerned with how Rajarata has been affected by pesticides. The fact that we did not test for Arsenic in imported food items does not mean that we are promoting them as against local products including rice. Only a crooked mind of an official who wants to survive at any cost can accuse us of a conspiracy against the country and our economy. These officials were not anywhere near during the last twenty five years or so when we fought against the most deadliest terrorists on a theoretical plane. We are happy to inform all of them that we would be testing for bread as well as ponac very soon as some of them may be interested in the Arsenic content of the latter.

The Registrar of Pesticides in a recent article to “The Island” on the “Arsenic Upheaval” claims that we did not submit our results to him even after repeated requests. It is true that we did not submit our results as it is not our policy to do so. We presented our results at a meeting held with the Minster of Agriculture where the RoP was also present and he cannot say that he is totally unfamiliar with our conclusions. The RoP has the luxury to hind behind the relevant acts and regulations and, it appears that until we raised the issue he (or his predecessors) has either issued licenses or recommended issuing them simply by going through the application to import pesticides and accepting the declarations of the importers. Apparently he has not taken steps to test for various chemicals including Arsenic and only after the Arsenic Upheaval according to the PoR, he has sent some samples to the ITI which has submitted a report to him. It has to be mentioned that when the University of Kelaniya sent some samples to the ITI to test for Arsenic it declined to do so claiming that one of their employees fainted as a result of testing. We hope that nobody fainted this time but we are not in agreement with their recent findings. It has to be brought to the notice of the public that it is not only the group at Kelaniya that has got positive results and the Sri Lanka customs when they decided to retain some of the containers they had other evidence as well regarding presence of Arsenic and also Mercury in pesticides.

The RoP depends only on the readings of the ITI and I do not know how much it agrees with the so called scientific method to come to conclusions only on the results of one institute how much it is “internationally recognized”. In any event one cannot say that Arsenic is not present in pesticides that one has not tested and all that one can say is that according to the method one has adopted Arsenic is present in certain quantities in the samples that have been tested. At Kelaniya we did not stick to the instructions given in the text books and the journals on testing for Arsenic as we modified the methods. If somebody requests we are prepared to give them the methods and alternatively we are prepared to allow them to come to our laboratories and test for Arsenic with us using our methods.

The killing fields in Rajarata, we claim are due to the Agrochemicals imported from the west, and the channel four could shoot a film on this tragedy if they are so humanitarian. More than twenty thousand innocent people have already died and the government should consider the feasibility of asking the relevant companies to pay compensation to the affected families as well as to the country, and introducing alternative methods of farming to the farmers without sticking to western farming with its nasty consequences.(2011/06/22)

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

Arsenic

It is now established that Arsenic is present in at least some of the agrochemicals imported to Sri Lanka. Several tests by the research group at the University of Kelaniya headed by me, studying various aspects of the Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease Unidentified Etiology (RCKD un et) has come across this finding, and at least one other group has confirmed these results. As the name indicates the cause of this disease is not identified in western medicine though many patients have deceased during the last few years. The research team at the University of Kelaniya, other than me consists of western Chemists, Botanists, Mathematicians who are employed as Professors and Senior Lecturers at the University of Kelaniya as well as those who practice western Medicine, some of whom are academics at the Rajarata University. We have made use of standard techniques in Atomic Absorption Spectrometry in almost all of the tests we have carried out at Kelaniya.

Our research team had to explain (i) the spread of RCKD un et only in Rajarata area and (ii) the incidence of the disease only during the last twenty years. Various groups working on the RCKD have come up with causes such as Cadmium, Aluminum in the cooking utensils. However due to reasons not described here for want of space, our group has rejected all these “explanations” and we have all the reasons to come to the conclusion that Arsenic is the cause of the disease. Now the question may be asked as to how the Kelaniya group was able to detect Arsenic in Rajarata drinking water in the affected areas and in agrochemicals when the other groups were not able to do so. In fact we are also surprised that Arsenic had not been identified in agrochemicals, as only standard methods known to the western Chemists were used by us in detecting Arsenic in these products. It has to be mentioned that detection of Arsenic in drinking water in Rajarata that is contaminated with certain salts needs a special technique that has been developed at Kelaniya. We are more than surprised how these agrichemicals have been allowed to be imported and distributed in Sri Lanka when the authorities could have easily tested for Arsenic before the relevant products were released to the importers.

We have to distinguish between two cases here, they being the presence of Arsenic in drinking water in the relevant areas and the presence of the same in agrochemicals. As mentioned above the authorities should have tested for Arsenic in agrochemicals before they were allowed to be imported and distributed. Apparently the importers of the agrochemicals with Arsenic have declared to the Sri Lanka customs that Arsenic is not present probably based on information supplied to them by the exporters. Even if the exporters had claimed that there was no Arsenic present in the relevant agrochemicals, we are of the opinion that the importers and the authorities in Sri Lanka responsible for giving clearance should have tested independently for Arsenic knowing its deadly effects.

Our group at Kelaniya consists also of people who are interested in developing our own systems of knowledge and in this respect we not only create (or discover as many are accustomed to that term) our own theories (ape pravada), rather than being satisfied with being mere tinkerers of western knowledge in the periphery, and we have been successful at least in a few instances. During the last two years or so we have come across another source of knowledge, namely the “samyak drushtika devivaru” who communicate knowledge when necessary to a lady who is known to us. Those who have been brought up in the western scientific tradition would laugh at this source of knowledge, but we are in a position to debate with them on this matter publicly not in a five star hotel, but in a place such as the Public Library Auditorium, if they are not happy with the “samyak drushtika devivaru”. The communicator does not go into a trance or any such peculiar position (arudha, avesha etc.,) but communicates with the devivaru while she is in conversation with the others.

I had been thinking of Bhavana as a means of acquiring knowledge for some time but did not know how or where to begin. Under the instructions of the devivaru (I do not want to use the word gods as the word has many connotations) few among us (I do not have that “vasana” probably due to my karma) are able to “experience” knowledge after engaging in Bhavana, and the devivaru and these people with “vasana” (it is not luck for anybody’s sake) have diagnosed deceases and treated successfully patients who had been turned away by the western medical personnel. I do not want to go into details at present but we will present our story to the public in due course. What is emphasized here is that neither nobodies nor some bodies could acquire this knowledge through Bhavana as only those who are “endowed” with the necessary “adhyathmica shakthiya” could do so.

It was the devivaru who suggested to us that we should test for Arsenic in the water, soil, and even flora in the affected areas in Rajarata. Our group that consists of western trained scientists set about in the usual way as they have been instructed, to collect samples of water soil, plants etc., and tested for Arsenic in the laboratories in the Faculty of Science of the University of Kelaniya. We did not want to carry out these experiments without informing the rest of the academics in the Faculty of Science, and as the Dean of the Faculty I made it a point to make them aware of what our group has been doing. There was no opposition as such from these western trained ladies and gentlemen at the meetings of the Faculty Board though many “kathas” spread and a few people with vested interests tried to obstruct our work. They had even complained to the Minister of Higher Education and the President that a “devale” has been created in the Faculty of Science as we had commenced Bhavana sessions for students as well as staff (both academic and non academic). I suppose they wanted the Minister and the President to interfere with our work but the latter had decided to ignore these complains. I must say subsequently some members of the group met the President and that he is more than interested in our work.

It is true that the idea that Arsenic is present was given to us by the devivaru but we do not want anybody else, especially those who are trained in the western scientific tradition to believe us or the devivaru. I must also add that there are some among us who could “see” Arsenic in the samples we collected from Rajarata area, with “adhyathmika shakthiya”. However, we went through the standard methods in western Chemistry using the Atomic Absorption Spectrometer available at the University of Kelaniya in order to convince the western scientists of the presence of Arsenic. Unfortunately, the standard methods available in the text books and the journals did not help us to identify Arsenic in hard water in Rajarata areas, and then again the devivaru came to our rescue and suggested a particular method that could be adopted. Using this particular method, and using chemicals only, our group has been able to detect Arsenic (Arsenates) in the samples of hard water. I am only giving an outline of what our group has been doing and the details have been presented at seminars held at Rajarata University and the ministry of Technology and Research. I must also add not being a western scientist or a western academic in general my interest in the whole exercise is confined to epistemology as developed in our culture, in addition to finding a cure for the disease.

The western medical personnel in our group observed symptoms of Arsenic poisoning in the samples of patients whose number is around twenty thousand in Rajarata, especially in Mahavillacciya, Padavi Sri Pura, Padaviya, Vahalkada and surrounding areas. This led to tests in biological parts such as hair, fingernails from patients and kidneys removed from at least two people who died from RCKD un et. We have no reason to believe that Arsenic is not the cause of RCKD and we may now drop the tag un et that follows the name of the decease.

It was also found that the arsenate compounds responsible for the RCKD are formed only when Arsenic is mixed with hard water found in the Rajarata areas. This is the reason why the decease is confined to the Rajarata areas. As Arsenic is not found naturally in Sri Lankan soil, we wanted to find out how Arsenic got into the soil and the water in Rajarata. The suspect was nearer at hand and it was nothing other than the agrochemicals. We tested for Arsenic in agrochemicals using standard western Chemistry and the tests carried out have confirmed that Arsenic is present in these substances in high proportion. This explains why the RCKD is confined to the last twenty years or so as the effect of the agrochemicals which were first introduced in the sixties is felt during that period.

The Sri Lanka customs got interested in our work and they wanted us to test some samples of agrochemicals that they had acquired. Our group detected Arsenic in those samples as well, using again the standard methods in western Chemistry. When the importers had complained to the custom officers that the former would not believe in our results we took the unprecedented step of carrying out the chemical tests in the presence of a delegation of importers as we realized the gravity of the problem.

I would not say that our job is now over, as we have to work hard to get the authorities to cancel the license to import these agrochemicals contaminated with deadly Arsenic and also to cure the unfortunate citizens of our country who have been victims of “thanhadika” western manufacturers and local importers. There is a cure for the disease communicated to us by the devivaru, but unfortunately we do not have sufficient number of “vedanan” to attend to the victimized patients. (The Island - 2011/06/08)

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

WANTED A FEW ELECTRONS, WAIT THEY SHOULD BE SENSORY PERCEPTIBLE

As was mentioned last week I am leading a group at the University of Kelaniya that studies various aspects of the Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease Unidentified Etiology (RCKDunet). I am not a western scientist or a mathematician but happen to be the Dean of a Faculty of Western Science in a University that had a Buddhist background but is Judaic Christian in culture at present due to the hegemony of western Christian modernity to which very few among the so called educated people object. I teach what may be called Mathematical Physics in the western jargon at the university but I know what rubbish it is. I repeatedly criticize the content I have to teach, and the students are bewildered.

I lead this group simply because I am interested in finding the cause of this deadly disease and a cure, and also because I have a hunch that the ancient Sinhala wisdom can be shown to be superior to modern western medicine based in the western Judaic Christian culture, as a result of the exercise. If somebody says it is against the so called scientific method and the spirit of science all that I have to say is that there is no scientific method as such and that the spirit of science is not that spiritual. I am a politician of sort, though not a member of any political party but an avowed enemy of western Christian modernity and allied knowledge that has suppressed our people during the last few centuries.

As can be expected there is opposition to the work carried out by the group at Kelaniya which consists of academics from the Departments of Botany, Chemistry, Physics, and Mathematics of the University as well as lecturers from the Faculties of Medicine at the Universities of Peradeniya and Rajarata. First a nasty rumor was spread to the effect that our group had copied the results of some other groups. This was exposed in no time as none of the other groups that study the causes of RCKDunet had come out with Arsenic and Mercury contaminated in the so called drinking water of the areas in Rajarata affected with the disease. Surely a group cannot copy something that is not available in the database or the result sheets of another group. However, it has to be mentioned that mere presence of Arsenic and Mercury in “drinking water” is not sufficient for the spread of the disease. The hardness of water is also a factor and there is a hypothesis that Calcium and Magnesium salts responsible for the hardness of water form the relevant arsenates and/or the arsenites in vivo.

The second objection to the work of our group comes from people who think that our investigation is based on extra sensory perceptions. I do not know how they came to this inference but I must say that there are so many concepts in western science that are not sensory perceptible. If they think that our group obtained the idea to test for certain chemicals through divine intervention, then all that I can state is that the way one gets an idea is immaterial to the practice of western science or of any system of knowledge for that matter. Take the famous example of the Benzene ring. It is said that Kekule had the basic idea of the Benzene ring in a dream. How did Planck get the idea of the quantum or Einstein get the postulates of special relativity? The way a person gets ideas is irrelevant though not irreverent, and it is the investigation of the idea that is important.

In any event in western science it was Ernst Mach, the Philosopher and physicist who objected to the use of extrasensory concepts to explain phenomena in Physics. In his scheme atoms among other things were not to be used and he objected to what are known as inertial frames of reference in Newtonian Mechanics. It is not essential to know what these devils are but it is sufficient to know that Mach influenced young Einstein so much that in his formulation of General Relativity he did away with inertial frames and also with the so called gravitational force (field).

However very few people, including the so called scientists in Sri Lanka, know that according to Einstein there is no gravitational force (forget the difference between the force and the field). The other day I was surprised to hear a “scientist” claiming that the gravitational force is sensory perceptible as it can be felt. Now unfortunately most of the “scientists” in Sri Lanka have ended up as scientists by chance. They most probably did not have any idea of becoming a scientist while they were at school, and ended up in a Faculty related to science as a result of not obtaining sufficient marks to enter a Faculty of Medicine or Engineering. They may be called “chance scientists” who having excelled at examinations have ended up in Universities or research institutes. Their hard work has to be appreciated but their knowledge of the philosophy of science and related matters very often could be improved to say the least.

If the particular “scientist” knew that according to Einstein there is no gravitational force he would not have said that the gravitational force could be felt. I just wondered how the feeling of something “proves” that the particular thing is sensory perceptible, as feeling need not be associated with any one of the five sense organs referred to in western science. It has to emphasized that though mind is considered as an indriya (loosely a sense organ) in Buddhist literature it is not so in western science. If on the other hand the gravitational force is felt by this “scientist” through a certain sense organ I am curious to know what this sense organ is as Einstein appears not to have had this particular sense organ.

The “scientists” who object to concepts or ideas that are not sensory perceptible are invited to get me some electrons. I suppose all the “scientists” are familiar with electrons and they should not have any trouble in hunting or shopping for (incidentally there is not much of difference between hunting and shopping, the major difference being that the former was practiced by males while the females are engaged in the latter) a few electrons. However, these electrons have to be sensory perceptible and acceptable to the “scientists”. If Mach was living the “scientists” could have consulted him.

Once the “scientists” bring these sensory perceptible electrons we may organize a symposium, workshop, or whatever it is, on sensory perceptible objects with some grant from a western agency in at least a four star hotel, with lunch of course, and get another grant to publish the proceedings. Just one last question as one of my colleagues associated with the Federation of University Teachers Associations (FUTA) used to say at the end of a discussion. Now what about the RCKDunet?

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

VEDAKAMA FOR RAJARATA KIDNEY PATIENTS

As we mentioned last week not only that there is no treatment in western medicine for Rajarata Chronic Kidney Disease Unidentified Etiology (RCKDunet) the causes are also not known as the words unidentified etiology indicate. Apparently the Sri Lanka Medical Council (SLMC) has under these conditions given permission to their members to make use of any reliable treatments found in the so called alternative systems of medicine. I do not know the exact words used by the SLMC, but usually the educated people in the country use the terms alternative system of medicines when they want to refer to systems of medicine other than the western system.

This terminology itself is objectionable as it implies that the western system of medicine is the chief or the default system and the others are systems alternate to western system. Medicine in today’s context means western medicine just as much vedakama meant Sinhala Vedakama during my childhood. When we were small my mother would say beheth for Sinhala beheth without a qualifying term and would refer to western medicine as ingrisi beheth. However, over the last fifty years or so the roles have been reversed and now people would say Sinhala beheth with a qualifying term and beheth for western medicine without a qualifying term.

A similar observation can be made in respect of Avurudda. Sometime ago the aluth avurudda (new year) dawned in April and people got ready for it from about early March. What was dawned in January was simply called Janeruva derived from January. However, it has become trendy to call the avurudda dawned in April as the Sinhala Avurudda with the qualifying term. The former Janeruva has gradually become the aluth avurudda and people now celebrate the aluth avurudda in January very much more than the way they used to do about fifty years ago.

These are nothing but examples for cultural invasions and it is quite clear that the Sri Lankans are now under the hegemony of western Christian Judaic culture and what we would call the Greek Judaic Christian Chinthanaya. In fact it is a worldwide phenomenon, and very recently after the “Tunisian Revolution” the pundits said the former Muslim country had now become a secular country. The westerners would warn the non Christian countries to become secular, to separate state from religion etc., without telling that their countries are Christian. To celebrate the New Year in January is to adopt a Christian tradition and nothing else, especially if the country had been celebrating the New Year on a different date in a different month.

It is true that the New Year was celebrated in January by some of the other cultures before the Christian culture adopted it, the way they adopted twenty fifth December the day of God Mithra (Sun God) of the Egyptian tradition as the birthday of Jesus the son of God (Christ). In fact this particular day was celebrated by the ancients as according to them it was on that day the Sun began its journey relative to the earth northwards. It is now known that this particular event takes place on the twenty first of December rather than on the twenty fifth of December but no correction has been made in this regard.

Today the word secular is used as a synonym for Christian. When the pundits want us to become a secular country what they mean is a Christian country. Secular England, Britain or UK for the pundits, is Christian England with all the paraphernalia of the English culture attached to it. Surely England has not separated the Christian religion, English or Anglican Christian religion to be specific, and when William Windsor marries later this year the pundits will know how secular England state is. Secular, I repeat is now a synonym for Christian and Tunisia though still not secular is on its way to becoming a secular state. We have been so much brainwashed by the western Christian education that we receive in Sri Lanka, even the Muslim pundits among us who shout from roof tops on Sinhala Buddhist hegemony would have no problem in seeing Tunisia becoming a so called secular country. Secularism is Christian but there are Christians, such as Born Again Christians in America who are not satisfied with Christian Secularism, who want more Christian features and Christians introduced into the world.

The faculties of western medicine, western engineering, western science, western humanities, and western social science are all referred to without the adjective western, as in the case of the vedakama and the avurudda, as western is supposed to be the one and only TRUE knowledge in any particular field. Thus western medicine is the medicine with other medicines referred to as alternative medicines. However, RCKDunet (unet in western medicine and not in Vedakama) has exposed the inadequacies of western medicine, and also of western science. In our vedakama it has been identified that the so called RCKDunet is caused mainly by Arsenic and Mercury found in what is now fashionably called drinking water (paneeya jalaya in Sinhala!) in the relevant areas in Rajarata. The kivula or the hardness of water also contributes as without kivula the mere presence of Arsenic would not cause so called RCKDunet, though it could result in other diseases.

There is a cure or a vedakama for this disease and already a number of patients who have been treated by western medical practitioners using the herbs that are found in the areas have been cured. In any event we have to be thankful to the SLMC for permitting these western medical practitioners to deviate from their normal practice. The western hospital in Padavi Sri Pura had been very active during the weekend with chanting of Pirith as vedakama is not dissociated from religion and unlike the westerners we do not pretend that religion and other practices are separated from each other. It is to the credit of the western medical practitioners who participated in this exercise and I understand that they too are now devout Buddhists observing the five precepts. One of the features of vedakama is that the vedamahaththaya has to be a person who at least observes the five percepts as otherwise he would not have the “power” to cure. Vedakama is not for those who take a “shot” or two or who indulge in other vices (please note that vices are culture dependent) and they are not welcome to treat the patients.

How we (the group at the University of Kelaniya) diagnosed the disease and how we came across the vedakama (treatment) is a separate story to be told later. In the meantime we would be thankful to the SLMC that has the power in virtue of being associated with the hegemonic western medicine to continue to give permission to the western doctors to make use of so called alternative treatments, though eventually it will lead to their downfall. We have been suppressed by western knowledge for more than five hundred years and it is time to realize that we also have our own systems of knowledge whether in vedakama, govikama, vadukama or anything else and we should be teaching these to our students, of course together with instructions on religious aspects.

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva

RAJARATA CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE - UNIDENTIFIED ETIOLOGY

We at the Chinthana Parshadaya became interested in the Rajarata chronic kidney disease unidentified etiology (RCKDunet) about four years ago, as we were worried about the patients and also due to the spread of the disease in the so called mayim gammana (boundary villages) in the Rajarata. Of course, today thanks to the President and the heroic soldiers there are no mayim gammana though the NGO and other pundits who used these terms still occupy the centre of the “intellectual landscape” thanks to the hegemony of the western Christian modernity. These pseudo intellectuals who are nothing but imitators who have not produced a single new concept or a theory have to be sent to the boundary from the centre, and I can see that the writing is on the wall even if they do not realize it.

The western medicine men in the Chinthana Parshadaya first suspected cynobacteria but it was found that it was not present in sufficient concentrations. The Chinthana Parshadaya did not have sufficient funds nor laboratory facilities to continue with the work and we had to be mere observers or rather receivers of information from those who were actively involved with the “research” connected with RCKDunet. However, recently some of us promoted ourselves from being passive observers to active “researchers” and formed a group in the Faculty of Science, University of Kelaniya under my leadership. Though I am not a western biologist, a western medicine man nor even a western Mathematician or a Physicist, by virtue of being the Dean of the Faculty I have been invited to be the leader of the group. There are western Biologists, Chemists, western medical practitioners (from other universities) and a western Mathematician (for Mathematical modelling) in the group and we have already obtained some preliminary results that are not in agreement with results already published by others.

As the terms unidentified etiology imply the causes of the RCKDunet are unknown to western medicine. Though diabetic patients and those with high blood pressure could end up as chronic kidney patients, Rajarata patients do not suffer from these ailments in general. The unidentified causes have to be identified, and we as a group are not merely interested in the identification of the causes alone as we would like to find a cure for this chronic kidney disease from which our innocent poor people in the Rajarata or Vev Bandi Rajya suffer. Our work is multidisciplinary in the true sense of the word and we will come out with more details as we proceed. At present it would be sufficient to say that we are somewhat different from other groups involved in western science.

Our approach is holistic, and we do not separate the sources of water from the environment and confine ourselves to an analysis of water found in wells and Vevas in the region. The Vevas of the Sinhalas are not mere tanks or reservoirs and we have a good knowledge of the Vevas from writings of late Mr. Mudiyanse Tennakone in the Divaina about twenty five years ago. Since then we have accumulated knowledge from other sources, Oh! no not from western sources, and we know the involvement of the Nagas (for anybody’s sake not Tamils please, if Tamils were involved they would have constructed Vevas in the present South India) in the construction of the Vevas. The Naga symbols found at the Vevas not only indicate the fact that they are associated with water and that they protect the Vevas but also the fact that they were involved in the construction of these massive structures. Late Mr. Mudiyanse Tennakone had taught us about vev thavulla, poshana pradesha, kulu Vevas and their functions, nivun (or twin) Vevas etc. Recently we came to know of the trees that were planted in a systematic way to make sure that the water in the veva or the well was purified. Remnants of this habit could be found in planting of kumbuk gus (trees) near wells.

Our group does not find Microsystis, a cynobacterial species in well water in the areas affected by RCKDunet. However, we have found traces of Green Algae, and according to the western Botanists in the group there is a possibility for these algae to be identified as blue green algae mentioned by some others. We also do not have evidence to conclude that cadmium is the cause of the RCKDunet.

Then where do our findings lead us after the preliminary investigation. As I mentioned above ours is a holistic exercise and we are of the opinion that Arsenic and Mercury found in water and soil in Rajarata where the RCKDunet has been spread and kivula (hardness) of water are two of the main causes of the disease. Then there is another important factor that is now lacking in Rajarata. These are the trees that were planted systematically in the surrounding areas of the vevas. The roots of these trees were involved as a kind of filters and the removal of these trees during the last few decades have caused havoc as far as the chemical constituents found in the water.

The western medical practitioners in our group have found similarities between arsenic poisoned patients in other parts of the world and the Rajarata Chronic Kidney patients. The Rajarata patients are different from kidney patients found in rest of the country and our group is investigating into these similarities and dissimilarities. We are also startled by the large numbers of arsenic poisoned patients in Bangladesh and would like to find out the role of the genes in spreading the RCKDunet in Rajarata.

However, we are mainly interested in finding a cure and our team has considered some plants and their fruits and nuts in this connection. We are guided by what I would call the Borupana Thesis, I first heard from the late Borupana Vedamahaththaya of Rathmalana. I know that some pundits will object to it citing so called scientific methods and research methodologies, but all that I know is that there is no scientific method as such and genuine research cannot be conducted according to so called methodologies. The uninitiated western scientists may read “Against Method” by Feyarabend as a first step.

In any event Borupana Thesis mentions that a cure for any disease can be found from the area in which the disease is spread. Recent discovery by western scientists that there are life forms based on Arsenic is a good example in this connection. The Rasa (mercury) vedakama found among the Sinhalas and others also points in the same direction. However, we are not proposing to introduce Arsenic or Mercury as a cure but to have a cure based on certain plants that could be grown in the area. The soil that has the potential to destroy life also has the ability to maintain life is the maxim behind the Borupana Thesis. Finally I would definitely say that RCKDunet is a result of introduction of western Christian modernity that has changed the life patterns of the Rajarata govia.

Copyright Prof. Nalin De Silva