Lead poisoning kills three in mombasa slum

At least three workers have died from lead poisoning at a battery recycling plant in Mombasa, and thousands more are feared to be at risk.According to a Human Rights Watch report, the 3,000 resident of Owino Uhuru slum have been exposed to significant amounts of lead since the smelter was opened in 2007.“At least three people have died and thousands of others are under threat from toxic lead because Kenyan authorities didn’t enforce their own environmental laws and regulations,” said Jane Cohen, senior environment researcher at Human Rights Watch.Lead is highly toxic and can interrupt the body’s functions.

The World Health Organisation reckons that high levels of lead exposure in children can cause brain, liver, kidney, nerve, and stomach damage, as well as permanent intellectual and developmental disabilities.The human rights agency released a film Kenya: Factory Poisons Community, documenting the health and environmental damage caused by the smelter, threats to activists working on the issue, and efforts by residents to seek justice.The agency’s report alleges that the even though Kenya’s environmental law requires an impact assessment to be conducted before such a facility can be opened, the smelter did not conduct one till after it began operations.

Investigation by authorities in 2009 resulted in the temporary closure of the facility, after the firm was found to have violated numerous laws and endangered health workers and nearby residents.Workers and residents told the Human Rights Watch that the facility was reopened with few changes to its operations, but without safeguards to protect the surrounding residential area.Former workers in the smelter described working in toxic conditions with little or no protective gear.Several workers said that managers openly told them that they were going to die because of the dangerous nature of the work, yet offered neither adequate protective gear nor medical treatment.“The Kenyan authorities in Mombasa authorized the smelter as part of a program to stimulate investment,” Cohen said. “But investment should not come at the expense of the lives and health of workers and residents.”

Adapted from: http://www.nation.co.ke/counties/mombasa/-/1954178/2360168/-/793g3fz/-/index.html