Three children in Badr Governorate have been diagnosed with leukemia in the last two months. The diagnosis is being attributed to a black substance found on sand dunes near the governorate's residential area. Badr Governorate, Health Sector Director Dr Zaki Subhi said: “I am not sure if the malignant disease is spreading among adults. But the black substance enveloping the dunes and hills resulted from the fallouts of the industrial waste of the factories of the Royal Commission in Yanbu.” Subhi cast doubt on scientists who attributed the substance to the emissions of cars and heavy equipment used in the construction of the Expressway linking Badr to Madina. “All the indications show that the this black substance is direct result of an accumulation of factories' hazardous waste which has led to many people in the governorate suffering from allergies and asthma,” he said. __
