Meg's update: CSD 19: Illegal Mining/Zamfara State/Africa/5-9-11

Yesterday's side-event addressed the serious lead poisoning epidemic in Zamfara State, Nigeria; an immunization programme led to the discovery of a high number of child deaths in the area. Further tests found the children had been digging for gold at the times of their deaths with unusal high levels of lead in their blood stream. Women, also, make up approximately 60% of illegal miners in the area. Further, it is thought that the poisonings were caused by illegal extraction of ore by the villagers, who take crushed rock home with them to extract. This results in the soil being contaminated from lead which then poisons people through hand to mouth contamination. Water become toxic when gold findings are washed in the river, leading behind deposits of lead. Not only is the health of the villagers impaired, but the community of agrarian farmers livlihood is lost due to radioactive levels of lead that remain in the soil. A way forward is seen by greater partnership with CSD and NGO's, working together to educate the villagers on the dangers of lead poisoning, both to their health and to the environment.