A growing number of people in Alwar, only 60 km from Delhi, are becoming abnormally tall; doctors suspect pesticide poisoning For most of us, the dream to reach an NBA player's height ends at the age of 20, when we stop growing. But 37-year-old Kanchan Pradeep Sharma, a resident of Rajasthan's Alwar town, resumed growing when he was 27, and even after 10 years, his body is still expanding in height and girth.
 Kanchan friend Nand Lal Meena is also as tall as he is Pics / Rajeev Tyagi |
Because of his condition, Kanchan's legs have lost their strength and he is too weak to move out of the house. He also suffers from memory-loss, weak vision and diabetes, complications arising from the ailment. Even pulling on clothes is a tiring task for him. Shoes, he has discarded years ago because they can't find his size any more. "His foot size has gone beyond the largest number 12. So he walks bare foot," says Rakhi.
Not the only giant
But Kanchan is not the lone giant in Alwar. The small heritage city has many such cases and we manage to locate four in a day.
Kanchan's neighbour and childhood friend Nand Lal Meena too was a patient of Gigantism. Meena grew from a regular 5 feet 7 inches to 6 feet and 3 inches in about a year at the age of 31.
The third giant
After Meena, we easily locate the third giant of Alwar, Rajinder Singh. An employee of Guru Sukhdev Shah Charitable Hospital
But worse is the case of Santosh Kumari, a housewife, who has grown about six inches at the age of 30. Today, at an astounding 5 feet and 11 inches, Santosh is taller than her husband and is referred to as the 'lambi aurat'.
Even doctors don't know
Though Dr Sharma has treated three of the four known giants of Alwar, he has no idea why this disease is affecting the residents of his town. "This rare ailment of hormonal imbalance usually affects about one person in 100," says Dr Sharma.
He is at a loss. "This imbalance can be caused by a genetic defect, head injury or by some kind of slow chemical poisoning," says Dr Sharma.
Other doctors agree. "While the condition can be controlled by medication and radiation therapy, surgery is often advised," says Dr Deepak, one of the members of the team that had treated Meena in Delhi.
"People can live with Gigantism but longevity decreases and there is a threat of other complications. As the body increases in size, vital organs are stretched beyond their limit. The heart too weakens," said Dr Sanjeev Srivastava of Kailash Hospital, Noida.
Are the citizens of Alwar being poisoned?
Dr Deepak suspects Acromegaly in the patients from Alwar could have been caused by slow food poisoning.
"These cases are common in rural India where pesticide poisoning is rampant," says Dr Baldeep Khurana, a general physician, practising in Delhi.
Even Dr Sharma is convinced this could be the most plausible reason. "There is no genetic connection between these patients. Also, none of them have suffered from any head injury. The only factor that links them is food procured from the local markets. Most of these people consume a lot of grains in the form of rotis and dal.
Alwar farmers use a lot of chemical pesticide and maybe these toxic pesticides are seeping into the body." If experts are to be believed, pesticide levels are threateningly high in the ground water in villages of Rajasthan, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh.
"Excessive use of pesticide is creating health problems in these villages. These chemicals seep into human bodies through food and drinking water and can cause many complications. The local administration should take care of this," says a scientist working with the Industrial Toxicology Research Centre, Lucknow, wishing anonymity.
