Gold Feeds - And Poisons - Nigerian Children
BAGEGA, NIGERIA — About 20 miles from the nearest paved road or light switch, the village of Bagega, Nigeria is the epicenter of the worst lead poisoning outbreak that anyone can remember. The government has promised millions of dollars for a massive life-saving cleanup, but small children continue to play in toxic dirt, and activists say time is running out.
At a gold-processing site, men hammered away at rocks. As he worked, Ismail explained how it’s done.
He said that first they crush the rocks, then they feed the pebbles into an electric flour mill, powered by a small generator. Gold is then extracted from the sand. As they worked, an unusual kind of dust billows from the hammers and machines, covering Ismail’s body and clothes. It’s dust that is laden with lead.
Casualties and rampant sickness
Activists say hundreds of children have been killed in this region over the past few years, and thousands have been crippled by the lead from the mining and processing of gold here in Zamfara State in northern Nigeria.
Many villages in the region already have been cleaned up and survivors have been treated. Some of those villages lost more than 40 percent of their children before the outbreak subsided.
fuente: La Voz de América, http://www.voanews.com/content/gold_feeds_but_also_poisons_nigerian_children/1527692.html
At a gold-processing site, men hammered away at rocks. As he worked, Ismail explained how it’s done.
He said that first they crush the rocks, then they feed the pebbles into an electric flour mill, powered by a small generator. Gold is then extracted from the sand. As they worked, an unusual kind of dust billows from the hammers and machines, covering Ismail’s body and clothes. It’s dust that is laden with lead.
Casualties and rampant sickness
Activists say hundreds of children have been killed in this region over the past few years, and thousands have been crippled by the lead from the mining and processing of gold here in Zamfara State in northern Nigeria.
Many villages in the region already have been cleaned up and survivors have been treated. Some of those villages lost more than 40 percent of their children before the outbreak subsided.
fuente: La Voz de América, http://www.voanews.com/content/gold_feeds_but_also_poisons_nigerian_children/1527692.html
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