valve regulated lead acid battery Lead poisoning kills children in Senegalese town

Heidi vogjan
No. 4, No. 9SUR-MER, Senegal —
First of all, it takes animals.
The goat was silent and refused to stand up.
A few chickens died, and then died collectively.
The dog on the street is gone.
Then the children.
The toddler stopped talking and his legs stretched out.
Women have stillbirth.
The baby died withered.
Some say the house is cursed.
Others say the families are cursed.
In this small town on the edge of the Senegalese capital Dakar, the mysterious disease killed 18 children, which has not yet been noticed. When they did -
When television news aired a request for an angry investigation by parents, when doctors ordered more tests, when the West sent health experts --
They did not find malaria, polio or AIDS, or any disease that killed the poor in Africa. They found a clue.
The dirt here contains lead extracted from old car batteries for many years.
So when the price of lead quadrupled in five years, residents began digging for lead.
The World Health Organization says the region is still heavily polluted 10 months after the government cleared up.
Advertising: The Tragedy of tiaroyesur-
Mer shows the globalization of modern tools --
Car battery-
Will cause serious damage to the developing world.
As demand for cars increases, especially in China and India, demand for lead is also increasing
Car battery.
About 70% of the world's lead is used for car batteries, and in some areas, car batteries are also used to power TVs and mobile phones.
Most of these batteries have been manufactured and recycled to developing countries.
Between 2005 and 2006, China reported four waves of lead poisoning involving batteries.
According to San Francisco, in Dong Mai village, Vietnam, lead smelting caused 500 people to suffer from chronic diseases and 25 children to brain damage. the government shut down lead smelting three years ago.
Professional Knowledge International or OK International based on battery manufacturing environmental standards. Thiaroye-sur-
Mer is a small town with a population of 100,000. every year, the rain makes people Wade on their knees.
Deep water in cementblock houses.
A train track divides the town and the speed of the train every day, just a few steps away from home.
In the past, the Ocean provided people with a livelihood, but in the past few years, fishing was not good.
Young people are increasingly fond of diving into Europe in large canoes equipped with outboard motors.
For years, the blacksmith of the town took lead from the car battery and reshaped it into a heavy object of a fishing net.
This is a dangerous, chaotic process in which the worker turns on the battery with an axe and pulls out small pieces of lead from the skinburning acid.
The work left behind the dust of the sulfur Yaro leaves densely packed with tiny lead particles.
Then the price of lead climbed and traders from India came to ask about the price of lead.
They offered to buy some lead in the bag for 60 cents 1 kg or 2.
2 pounds, say Coumba Diaw, one in the middle
The old mother of two children
So Dior dug out the dirt with a shovel and brought the bag back to her house.
There she sat outside and separated the lead from a sieve.
During the day of selling food in the market, she only spent an hour screening.
She left her two daughters nearby while she was working.
Women nearby did the same, creating dust clouds of lead.
Then the disease began.
In the five months from October 2007 to March 2008, deaths occurred one after another.
At first, it was considered malaria or tuberculosis.
Doctors at the local clinic have been seeing the same symptoms, have not responded to the treatment, and have started more tests.
At this time, the month of dibadio-year-
Old daughter is dead.
She had a severe fever first.
Then she started vomiting. Diaw, a 31-year-
An old teacher at an Islamic school thought it was malaria and took her to the hospital.
She died the next day.
"The doctor can't say what she died of," Diaw said . ".
His voice rose as he spoke, and he vomited.
He showed photos of his daughter with him and the plastic case of the lead battery.
Diaw began talking to other parents whose children had the same symptoms.
They spend more money a day doing more lab tests but don't get any answers.
As a result, he called the local media and held a press conference to ask for an investigation.
At about the same time the hospital confirmed lead poisoning.
The World Health Organization was invited.
The government carried out blood tests on relatives of the dead children.
Their mothers and siblings were found to have lead content of 1,000 micrograms per liter.
100 micrograms per liter is enough to damage children's brain development.
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A block from Diaw's house, his niece 2-year-
The child, Coumba Diaw, carries her on her back.
"It was a fever at first.
Her skin is very hot.
She will tremble and her eyes will roll back.
She's drooling.
Her legs will jump out.
"She's been crying all the time," says Coumba Diaw.
Diaw rushed her daughter to the hospital.
Now that they know about the problem, they can save nunatu.
Residents said the clean-up began in three years but was not extensive.
In an alley in tiaroyesur-
Mer, a man pointed out a pile of bags full of lead bullets that had been placed against the wall for months during the rainy season.
He said that when someone heard that lead was dangerous, they threw the sacks there and the cleaning operation missed them.
According to WHO, about 950 people were continuously exposed to nearby lead dust, and many children showed signs of nerve damage.
Screening throws lead particles into the air and one can breathe in lead particles in the air.
In rich countries, there are rules for recycling lead batteries. Most U. S.
The United States requires anyone who sells lead
Collect used batteries and ship them to recycling plants licensed and regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
Similar regulation exists in Europe.
"When you get the third place --
You have no regulations or world countries trying to control the movement of this product, and you will see this tragedy happening, "said Morris Demale, executive director of the International Battery Council, an AmericanS. -
Headquartered in trade group.
While North America and Europe remain the world's largest car buyers, there are fewer and fewer car batteries built there.
In places where labor is cheaper, environmental protection regulations are looser or at least looser, manufacturing has changed.
Perry goldsfield, executive director of OK International, said: "None of the developing countries have this happening . ".
Most people in Thiaroye say they will never go back and screen dirt for lead.
But some people still don't believe it's dangerous.
The scrap metal trader Mohammad Diane said he has not purchased any lead since the poisoning incident was exposed.
But he said he grew up cracking open-air batteries for lead and that he was not poisoned.
He did not have a blood test for lead.
My father is 75 years old.
"He has never had any problems," said Diagne . ".
Indian buyers about a kilometer or a half
A mile from town, there is a large yard full of battery cases and bags of lead pellets.
The company used to buy some lead dug up in tiyaroye.
The workers there confirmed that they had shipped the lead and batteries out of the country, but no further details were given.
The owner declined requests for some interviews.
The government has removed dirt from the top of the road with earthwork and is paying hospital bills for anyone who is sick of lead.
There are at least 55 children who can start and there may be more once the test is completed.
The World Health Organization says a large amount of lead is still toxic in the region.
The government wants to relocate the entire community.
But Demba Diaw says the government just wants to profit from their leading position on Earth, and Coumba says it's her only home.
Like many other families, Diaws is too poor, too ingrained to move.
So they will stay where lead poison the Earth.
A version of the article was published in the International Herald Tribune on January 4, 2009.
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