Thousands of children in Kabwe, Zambia, risk lead poisoning just by playing outside because the earth and dust are so contaminated. The source is a lead and zinc mine that shut down in 1994 but was never properly cleaned up or sealed off. Lead poisoning can lead to health issues ranging from learning disabilities to seizures or even death. Philippa Stewart spoke to researcher Joanna Naples-Mitchell about the implications for families living in Kabwe – where the soil in contaminated neighborhoods has some of the highest lead levels in the world.
How did you first become aware of the problem in Kabwe?
...
AllAfrica Subscription Content
You must be an allAfrica.com subscriber for full access to certain content.
You have selected an article from the AllAfrica archive, which requires a subscription. You can subscribe by visiting our subscription page. Or for more information about becoming a subscriber, you can read our subscription and contribution overview.
For information about our premium subscription services:
You can also freely access - without a subscription - hundreds of today's top Africa stories and thousands of recent news articles from our home page »
Already a subscriber? Sign in for full access to article