WHO would have thought that washing your face with tap water could be so dangerous? According to 快猫短视频 (10 January, p 15) it can be, for people who wash while wearing contact lenses. They risk the ravages of a water-borne amoeba called Acanthamoeba which can cause a painful and potentially blinding eye infection.
About 1 in 30,000 contact lens wearers in the UK contract the disease. The trouble is the organism is resistant to treatment and difficult to eradicate. I asked the Department of Health what guidance it can offer.
Rosie Winterton, the health minister with responsibility for public involvement, said the amoeba turns up wherever there is water 鈥� in chlorinated swimming pools, showers and bottled water as well as tap water. However, she insisted that any increased risk to contact lens wearers from washing their face with tap water is minimal.
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鈥淎canthamoeba is resistant to a range of disinfectants,鈥� Winterton added. 鈥淐ontact lens solutions have been developed in recent years to take account of this. All lens wearers are advised to use only recognised cleaning solutions and follow practitioners鈥� directions. We do not believe further advice from the department is warranted.鈥�
People use swimming pools more in summer, and I suggest that those who do wear goggles and make sure they are kept clean. Come what may, though, Acanthamoeba warrants another look.
AT a recent meeting at the University of Edinburgh to discuss fair trade, Justino Peck, a farmer from Belize, was one of the main speakers. His talk highlighted the intense controversy over the proposed dam on the Macal river (快猫短视频, 22 December 2001, p 4). Some fear the dam will have an adverse impact on the natural habitat. Others, such as the Belize Alliance of Conservation Non-Governmental Organisations, strongly criticise the environmental assessment undertaken of it. Yet the leading Belizean environmental NGO and the Belize Audubon Society both endorsed the assessment.
It is all most confusing, so I asked Gareth Thomas, the minister at the Department for International Development (DFID) with responsibility for Latin America, for his take on the situation. He replied that with this sort of development, it is essential for there to be not only careful environmental and social impact assessments, but also sound economic justification. The DFID supports due legal process, so the UK鈥檚 involvement is limited to a watching brief. It is a matter for local stakeholders and the national and international legal systems.
Thomas said he could support only the final decision of the UK鈥檚 Privy Council and emphasised that the DFID has no financial interest or stake in the proposed dam. The people of Belize want a secure source of clean energy rather than having to import diesel-generated electricity, the minister said.
Belize lacks the infrastructure to pursue alternative forms of energy generation. Given the notorious clogging up of some other South American dams, the Macal project needs careful monitoring.
