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Nigeria: Children die from lead poisoning due to gold mining
photo by pjotter05 (source: Flickr Creative Commons)
Poor agricultural yields associated with climate change have forced some villagers in northern Nigeria to turn to other ways of survival. Many residents of this desperately poor region have turned to gold mining. But due to the high concentrations of lead found in the earth alongside potential gold deposits, people – especially children – are being poisoned.
Factors such as intense poverty, increasingly unfavorable conditions for farming and soaring gold prices have combined and spurred residents of the Nigerian state of Zamfara into searching for gold along the border with neighboring Niger. Gold extraction here is a rudimentary and unsafe process, exposing the miners to mercury as well as extremely high levels of lead.
From an Associated Press article:
Many had played in homes or village common areas contaminated by lead. The level of exposure was so high that most blood samples were off the scale on lead-screening machines.
So far hundreds have been exposed and over 160 have died. Children under 5 are the most vulnerable to lead poisoning, which can cause brain damage, high blood pressure, nervous disorders and reproductive problems as well as death.
For more on this tragic story, see the below video report from Al Jazeera English.
Nigeria gold hunt kills children
by Graham Land
Additional resources:
AFP – Nigeria’s lead poison outbreak unprecedented : CDC
Tags: children, gold, lead, mining, Nigeria, poisoning, poor, Zamfara
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I’m an environmental health officer i would like 2 work with u if there is appotunity pls.