Increasing activities of illegal miners and improper processing of lead-contaminated gold ore within households in the community, were largely responsible for the high death toll.
Inhabitants of at least 10 villages in Anka and Bukkuyum Local Government Areas of the State had, in the not too distant past,"stumbled" on deposits of gold, silver, copper and other precious metals in the soil and rocks in their community. It was a transforming discovery.
Illegal miners display their haul
A report by the Centers for Diseases Control, CDC, confirmed that the environmental contamination and timing of the outbreak were related to recent increase in illegal mining activities and the greater involvement of women and children in processing lead contaminated gold ore in their homes.
They sprang into action as the news spread like a forest fire in the harmattan. More people in nearby villages joined in the gold hunt. Farming, their erstwhile vocation, took a backseat, while illegal mining of precious stones became the mainstay. It was a crude but lucrative trade.
The harvest was in, it appeared. It was a harvest of cash. Each miner was making an average of N100, 000 every week. On a good day, a hard working miner made more than N30,000. But the joy of striking gold soon proved short-lived.
No one knew it, but the precious gold ore was laced with lethal doses of poisonous lead. While harvesting cash, the people were also harvesting death. Infants and young children, strapped to their mothers' backs or clinging to their sides, had been inhaling the ore dust. It was a recipe for disaster.
Soon enough, before their very eyes, the communities watched in horror as their children developed seizures and were dropping dead one after the other without any explanation. The seizures became widespread and in time, the death toll rose alarmingly. It was an unnerving and dreadful experience.
The children perished in droves even up to the remotest villages of Anka and Bukkuyum LGAs.
The gale of death swept through no fewer than 30 villages and an estimated 500 children below five years old lay stone dead. Several hundreds more were living with grievous scars of the unsolicited lead attack.
Today, more than a year after the onset of the outbreak, doctors are still struggling to save children stricken by lead poisoning. Many are dead, but many more are blind, deaf or crippled.
Scores of infants and children affected by the severe and acute lead contamination have suffered permanent brain damage as a result of prolonged exposure to the toxic effects of lead. The outbreak has been described as one of the worst cases of environmental poisoning in recent times.
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