Skin diseases among Iligan villagers not caused by chemical plant - doctors

ILIGAN CITY, Philippines – A group of medical specialists has conducted an investigation on the reported spread of skin diseases among residents of three villages here due to the presence of a nearby chemical plant. The team was headed by Dr. Livey J Villarin, the city’s health officer, and had a dermatologist, two internists and two pediatricians as members. Villarin said they set up three clinics in the area following reports of an epidemic of cancer-causing skin diseases here being blamed for the allegedly carcinogenic substances being emitted by a plant owned by MCCI Corporation. The report prompted the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to order the temporary closure of the plant last June 18 pending investigation. Villarin however said they did not find evidence that the diseases were caused by emission from the plant. She said the results of the tests pointed to poor hygiene, congested homes and climatic changes as the main factors behind most of the cases of 672 patients who showed up in the clinics, which were conducted on June 21, July 5 and August 2 at Buruun village. Aside from Villarin, the other doctors who examined patients were Dr. Alaric Navarro, dermatologist; Dr. Glenn Manarpaac, internist who works with Villarin at the City Health Office; Dr. Mohamad Minanga, internist; and Dr. Elisa Taranza and Dr. Arbeen Laurito, both pediatricians. Villarin’s assessment, based on the medical team’s report, prompted Mayor Lawrence Lluch Cruz to request Environment Secretary Jose L. Atienza Jr to reopen the MCCI plant because medical findings do not “conclusively show that the company caused the diseases” as mentioned in previous published reports. “The shutdown of the plant … has affected many of the City’s constituents, their families, our local business sector, including nearby towns which were also benefited in terms of supplying local raw materials,” Cruz said in his letter dated July 22. The common medical cases noted were respiratory tract infection and hypertension. For skin diseases, Navarro, a dermatologist, cited boils, contact dermatitis and scabies as the common complaints. “At present, the skin malady that these patients have been experiencing cannot be attributed to the presence of the factory,” he said in his report. - GMANews.TV