'Slow Poison' - India, UP - March - April 2008 www.alexmasi.co.uk

Anuj, (right) 20, from the village of Bhanera Khemchand, pop. 2000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is photographed in his house while being washed by his mother, Leelaweta, 48, on Wednesday, Mar. 26th, 2008. Anuj developed a neurological disorder at the age of five and doctors believe it to be associated to water contaminated with alarming levels of pesticides and heavy metal the family is drinking on a everyday basis. Their hand-pump, at the shallow depth of 70ft, provides water they lament is regularly causing them allergies and stomach pain. Their house is located extremely near the Krishni river, joined by a large industrial drain a few hundred meters upstream that has been flowing unabated for more than 25 years. Only Leelaweta remembers how they used to bath and wash clothes into the clear waters of what was once considered the life-stream of the village.

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Anuj, (right) 20, from the village of Bhanera Khemchand, pop. 2000, Saharanpur District, Uttar Pradesh, India, is photographed in his house while being washed by his mother, Leelaweta, 48, on Wednesday, Mar. 26th, 2008. Anuj developed a neurological disorder at the age of five and doctors believe it to be associated to water contaminated with alarming levels of pesticides and heavy metal the family is drinking on a everyday basis. Their hand-pump, at the shallow depth of 70ft, provides water they lament is regularly causing them allergies and stomach pain. Their house is located extremely near the Krishni river, joined by a large industrial drain a few hundred meters upstream that has been flowing unabated for more than 25 years. Only Leelaweta remembers how they used to bath and wash clothes into the clear waters of what was once considered the life-stream of the village.