Nigerian Children Could Die By Lead Poisoning

More than 100 people, mainly children, died in the last few weeks after residents of a village in northern Nigeria were digging for gold in areas where the concentration of lead is high.

Reports said that 25 children from the village have been hospitalized recently and another 80 are facing treatment very soon.

It is being said that large amounts of lead have been used in the attempt to extract gold and it is believed that soil contaminated with lead has been dumped in water sources and near children’s playgrounds.

A spokesman from the Blacksmith Institute has said that thousands of children have tested with high levels of lead which could result in death in the future.

It was also mentioned that children are more vulnerable to lead poisoning than adults.

Alternatively the Zamfara State Director of Public Health has suggested that these fears were unfounded and the lead poisoning deaths of those children occurred much earlier . He also reassured observers that the area would be cleaned up within the next month by replacing the contaminated soil with clean earth but that it has not happened yet as the bad situation of local roads has delayed certain machinery from reaching the village.

Because the rainy season is approaching there is fear that the contamination could spread to a far greater area and affect more children..

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Posted by Jackie Cooke on Jun 9 2010. Filed under Featured News, Health, Legal. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry