Cyclopian Child Born in Chennai
A one-eyed child suffering from a rare chromosomal disorder known as cyclopia was born in a hospital in Chennai earlier this week. The disorder occurs during pregnancy when the cells that constitute the forebrain fail to develop properly and fuse into a single eye. Instances of cyclopia are generally attributed to outside factors like ambient pollution, radiation, drugs and the introduction of other agents that can alter fetal development.The pictures bare an eerie resemblance to images of Love Canal, a suburban community built on top of the most notorious toxic waste dump in New York State. While the small town was still populated, several children were born without eyes and cancer was hundreds of times the normal rate.
With waste burned openly in the streets, old MRI machines leaking radiation into local dumps, red alert toxic ratings for the city's air and water, and now one-eyed infants, Chennai is looking more like Love Canal every day.
(Photo originally from the Deccan Chronicle, sorry for the poor quality, they didin't post it online.)
8/7 UPDATE: I called Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children to get more information about the child. Apparently it is now seven days old and the doctors believe that it may survive. They offered me a chance to see her in person, and I may follow up this post with more information later this week.
*** Several people have noted in the comments that MRI machines do not leak radiation, this is true. The people of Chennai will have to find their pollutants from other sources.
Labels: One Eyed Baby, Open Source Investigation
posted by Scott Carney @ 9:39 AM
45 comments
45 Comments:
MRI machines do not leak radiation
Anonymous said...
MRI machines do not leak radiation.
That is true, MRI machines can't leak what they don't have. MRI machines use magnetic waves, not radiation for their imaging. And yes, I know that technically they are called NMRI's (Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Imager), but we leave off the "N" because the general public is automatically assumes NUCLEAR=BAD.
Thanks for pointing that out. It was a fact I should have thought about a little more. Nonetheless, there is a reason that MRI machines are sent to India for disposal--and I don't think it is just because it seems like a good place.
This is actually a severe form (alobar) of the most common congenital brain defect, Holoprosencephaly. It affects 1:16,000 live births. Causes are not primarily pollution but maternal diabetes. It is hereditary.
Hello Non-Genius MRI commentators.
MRI used to be called the following.
"Radioactive MRI."
Why - because IT USES RADIATION, and yes it uses A GREAT QUANTITY OF IT! Full body MRI's are dangerous, try to get one sometime.
Ask an MRI Tech.
Always get your facts straight too.
please humanely put this baby to sleep. !!!
There is no need to have this baby suffer a life time of pain agony; what little suffering baby will go through now will be nothing compared to what he/she will have to endure if the baby survives.
I have a degree in physics (just a BS) and I have done nuclear magnetic resonance tests.
NMR measures the resonance of nuclei with a very strong magnetic field. Technically, a magnetic field is 'radiation', as is ordinary light. NMR is not radioactive in any sense that a layman thinks of it.
Read the wikipedia article on MRI.
That said, I don't know whether MRI could cause birth defects, but I doubt it.
MRI machines use pulses of RF radiation for imaging. However, there are no known health risks from either the RF pulse or the magnetic field.
Calm down, anonymous. The baby lacks a forebrain, which means it can't feel pain. The crying seen in the picture is just a natural reaction by the infant, and not indicative of any suffering. Also, it won't survive much longer in any case; the aforementioned lack of a forebrain assures that.
I think that there is some misunderstanding about what "radioactive MRI" is referring to.
During such a procedure one is injected with a radioactive dye in order to improve contrast in the image. It is not the MRI itself that is radioactive, it is the material that is put into one's body.
However, there are now a few non-radioactive contrast agents being used, such as gadolinium. The radioactivity of the contrast agent is not what is being utilized by the MRI, it just so happens that some of the best contrast agents are mildly radioactive.
Also, merely because something gives off radiation does not mean that it is bad. Radio waves are as much radiation as gamma rays are. One is harmless, the other is fatal. MRIs produce some radio waves, which you undoubtedly have passing through your body every minute of every day from AM and FM radio transmissions.
An MRI gives off no ionizing radiation (the harmful sort). It utilizes an extremely powerful electromagnet. The nucleus of a handful of hydrogen atoms within one's body align themselves with the machine's magnetic field, hence the term "Nuclear Magnetic Resonance" that people were so irrationally fearful of.
You may be confusing an MRI with a CT scan (sometimes referred to as a "CAT scan"). A CT scan does utilize harmful ionizing radiation (x-rays).
But as you said, it's a good advice to speak to a radiologist about these issues.
On a related note, Coca Cola is known to badly pollute India in its soda manufacturing process.
Something called teratogen can cause this. This blog entry at Pharyngula discusses some animal examples.
Something called teratogen can cause this. This blog entry at Pharyngula discusses some animal examples.
Something called teratogen can cause this
There is no 'something' called 'teratogen'.
Any agent that causes the malformation of a fetus is a teratogen (from the Greek roots for 'maker of monsters').
The drug thalidomide is a well-known example.
MRI's do not emit radioactivity. They work through very strong magnetic fields. One of my close family members is in charge of an NMRI research facility at a major university. He is around them every day and is as healthy as can be. The N for nuclear refers to the nucleus of a atom, not a nuclear bomb!
It will be worthwhile tracing presence of consanguinity with thr parents of the child.It is known that consanguinity can be a source of abnormalities of this type.It is also known that consanguinous relationships like cousin/cousin and uncle/niece are common in South India.
Mack: There is no 'something' called 'teratogen'.
Thanks, I've just remembered that I was crap at both science and languages at school. The link I gave is still good, though.
Regarding the holoprosencephaly comment above... This does not look like the classic holoprosencephaly cases I've seen. With holo, the classic symptoms are a premature closure of the tissues of the face, causing cyclopia and, additionally, deformation of the nose (it sort of hangs off the forehead, since closure of the cheek/facial tissues prevents the tissue from "growing in" correctly.) Additionally, holoprosencephaly is caused by a defect in signaling, and while pollutants and genetics can cause this, it's very often seen when mothers have extremely low cholesterol levels (choleSTERol, like many steroids, is a critical component of cell to cell singnalling) because of diet, drugs or absorbption problems.
Just my developmental biologist two cents. :)
Well, that´s shocking!
It´s really sad. Mutants kids like this because radioactivity, war, misery in the third world. Our children don´t deserve this. Meanwhile, world-wide leaders thread money and power in the ass!
I thought all water was microwaveable?
Seriously though -- did you heat the other water to the same temperature using a non-microwave source? Did you use the same containers and source? Did you use a group of plants or just two?
There are a bunch of problems with that "experiment" that make it bad science. See more here, where they debunk a common set of pictures: http://forums.randi.org/showthread.php?t=55420
Ultimately, the pictures ( http://rense.com/general70/microwaved.htm ) were shown to have been photoshopped (see the overlay -- the "healthy" plant was the picture from the first day http://forums.randi.org/imagehost/724444289d32965e.jpg ).
Ah, the wonders of faking results.
Can you say Photoshopped?... You can see the lazy ass cropped edges around the area of the suposed one eye...
I wish it were fake, but sadly this is a real photo. It is from a local newspaper here in Chennai.
Anonymous (between Bartholomew & Dawn Marie) pointed out something I noticed right away: the details of the deformity do not match those in the other cyclopean pictures I've seen. Of course, there could be other forms of cyclopism (Is that a word???), with which I'm not familiar.
Another thing that puzzles me is that the baby does not appear to be a newborn. The plumpness of the arms and proportions of the face are more consistent with a baby at least a month old.
A child born with one or no eyes might survive into adulthood, but not when the single eye is in the center. There are no confirmed instances of a cyclops baby living longer than one or two days. I'm afraid I doubt the veracity of this photograph, even if it is from a newspaper.
What would you name such a child? Cy? Jack??
I just called the hospital (Kasturba Gandhi Hospital for Women and Children) and they have confirmed that it is now 7 days old. They expect the child to live and offered me a chance to see the child in person.
I just came back from the hospital and have a lot more information about the child and its history--including the probable cause of the cyclopianism. I Come back tomorrow or the next day for a full update (I want to check my facts first).
Tight basket - how would you like it if your baby was phootographed. Have some frigging humanity
Creeeeeeeeee - py.
Give the baby to Mel Gibson to barbecue and have with his booze. He'll think it's Angus beef......mmmm, delicious!
That poor child :-(
I can't believe the person who said to put the child to sleep--in other words murder the baby. How horrible.
Perhaps if the baby's story receives enough media coverage, it might catch the attention of a doctor somehere that could help. I don't know if that's possible, but I hope so.
In the meantime, pray to whatever God you believe in, if you believe, for this innocent little one.
I am a little bit disturbed by all the people making very insensitive comments about this baby girl on this comment list and across the net. I saw her two days ago in the hospital and it is more sad than anything else. She moves about and cries just like any other newborn infant. Her head is a little smaller than normal. While the first time you see a photo of her you may feel a little revolted, please try to remember that she is a person, too.
So far she is 10 days old. That is longer than any other child with a similar condition has lived. Who knows, she may even reach maturuty.
Dear Dawn,
The report is going to go out in tomorrow's syndication of Wired News. There were a lot of facts to get straight in the story and I'm sorry to have kept you on the hook for so long.
I can't list more information in this forum, but if you are very worried you can send me your e-mail address and we can correspond there.
Best,
Scott
What about the possibility of cyclopamine? I remember reading a few years back that a naturally occuring substance in some kind of shrub contained this mysterious agent that had effects in goats similar to the protein sonic hedgehog.
I don't think it's cruel to kill this baby. Just think would you want to go around life like that. Knowing what you know now would you want an existence that is nonessential.
It's been 8 more days since the last update. Is the kid dead yet? Has the photohopper confessed? Show some real photos with good light or video or something. The original "newspaper" photo is obviously retouched. just look at the "baby's" left hand (at right of photo). Is appears that underneath the hand that clutches an IV tube, is a first and second toe of an infant foot. Is that foot growing off the back of the kid's left elbow? Hmmm? Or is it the foot of an adjacent baby laying next to the one in the photo? If so, the rest of that other baby was cropped out, but the person doing the cropping missed a spot apparently. I think it's a bunch of BS. Even the photo at BoingBoing looks retouched. What kind of journalistic photograhy is being tought where those photographers were lernt?
It's usually prefereable to "fill the frame" with subject matter, to bring out detail. Ever seen a forensic photograph, there are real nice ones at rotten.com. Notice the gory details (rather than the preponderance of fuzzy shapes and strange unidentified toes protruding from an infant's elbow. Besides the chest of that kid looks more like a preschooler than a newborn.
Did the mother ever show up? When will they genotype the thing and gaze into the true nature of this genetic hiccup of a kid, if it really exists. In the story, I read that the head looks unusally small. But in the photo at the top of the page, theat head looks almost as wide as the shoulders.
Come on. April 1st is still months away.
Dear Anon, there have been multiple updates on the status of the child in the last few days. Please see the two other entried in this blog as well as a report I wrote that appeared on Wired News.
As for your allegations that I doctored the photos in some way, they are just plainly off base. I have published five different photos from diffrent angles. It would be pretty close to impossible to fake all of them. Or at least impossible for me to do with my limited knowledge of photoshop.
Also, I have seen the child in person and spoken to all of the doctors involved. She is real. I'm sorry that you don't believe it.
Last I heard from the hospital two days ago the child was still alive, though doctors note that she is not looking very healthy.
I just want to know how she is doing, is she still alive and is anyone giving ger any attention, yanno, holding her, loving her, the things she should have in her short life.
Holly
The poor little poppet - she's going to face enough challenges with her body as it is without half of society denying her humanity and/or clamouring for her 'humane' extermination.
For the info of whoever it was that made the forebrain reference - while an injury resulting in similar brain defect in an adult would be likely to render them utterly unresponsive, the plasticity of infant brains is such that there's an excellent chance, if she lives long enough, that this little girl will learn to recognise and respond to her loved ones and generally interact with the world plenty. She may even learn to crawl, use some basic language (words or signs)... there's no predicting it, if she's given enough love and care and stimulation and lives long enough.
I would love to know what the skull is like. Are there sinus cavities so a nose could be grafted? This baby was born the way God intended. Let us learn from her and pray for her. Even my 5 year old said he would give her a thousand kisses!
How old is the baby now? Is she blind? How is her brain functioning? How do they feed her so she can still breathe? I love her.
I had a case like this at Fabella Hospital, Manila, Philippines during my 4th year UST medical schooling. I had a rotation at this local hospital which would have so many rare cases like anencephaly, hydranencephaly, achondroplasia hypochondrogenesis, etc. U can check some of the images i took personally at http://www.myspace.com/faheem823.
lets talk about religion some...
if theres muslims they might heard of dadjil,human being with one eye,which will bring suffering to world,which will have extraordinary intellect n powers...so does other religions have same thing,different on text...
the point is one day one of them will survive n world will see chaos...the other thing its the sign of the end...so people stop discussing MRI`s,start doing something,specially pray n lets try do something about radiation,waste n etc....
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