Residents claim that cancer visibly spreads throughout the towns of the Middle and Western Bekaa in the absence of official statistics, despite reports claiming that the Litani River’s pollution is one of the main causes of the disease’s spread.
Knowing that the produce of the agricultural region of vegetables and fruits is transferred throughout the rest of Lebanon, including the capital Beirut, the crops of Sahl Al-Bekaa are characterised in the waters of the Litani River, which according to local accounts was classified as polluting.
“Many individuals around me have cancer,” a Lebanese from the western Bekaa town of Al-Manara tells Sky News Arabia. Its population exceeds 4 thousand people, and the case applies to neighboring towns.
All Lebanese are at risk for cancer, but the Bekaa region has the biggest problem, according to Sami Alawiya, chairman of the National Authority of the Litani River.
Speaking to “Sky News Arabia,” Alawiya cited the following factors as the causes of the cancer outbreak in the Bekaa: • The population dwells in an agricultural region that is irrigated with cancer-causing water.
• The general health system has gotten worse as a result of the population’s dirty food and the burning of waste in the area.
According to a study from the National Authority of the Litani River that “Sky News Arabia” was able to get, “very high rates of cancer in the towns of the Bekaa” are there.
The report is due to the presence of some pollutants in the region, and their leakage to air, groundwater and agricultural lands.
The report also accepted responsibility for the nine cosmetics, detergents, and paints identified in the original survey of 192 industrial institutions as the main contributors to their trash entering the Litani River.
law Project
The Bekaa and the areas surrounding the Litani River have a high cancer risk, according to Doctor Assem Araji, the former chair of the Parliamentary Health Committee.
There are no data, according to Araji’s interview with the “Sky News Arabia” website.
We request that the pertinent ministries set up a router to handle cancer cases in Lebanon.”
He adds: “A number of towns in a region are suffering from poor sanitization, industrial drainage, the use of fertilisers in agriculture, and the disposal of solid waste into the Litani River.
” The former parliamentarian stressed: “We submitted a draft law and became a law in the House of Representatives bearing the number 63, to remove pollution sources in the Bekaa within 7 years at a cost of 800 million dollars. ”
But “Due to the economic crisis, the value of an amount in Lebanese pounds, which is equivalent to around 400 million dollars, is insufficient to finish the project.
Araji expressed concern about “the high amounts of nitrate, mercury, and carcinogens brought by the river to the Qaraoun Lake in the Bekaa” and mentioned that “the rates of cancer are on the rise continuously, especially in the digestive system and the pancreas.
“Cancer emphasis” in eastern Lebanon’s special Bekaa region
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