the toxic truth - Greenpeace

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the toxic truth The CSRS survey also provides anecdotal evidence suggesting that some people went to traditional healers and that some may have been unable to attend the treatment centres. One doctor told Amnesty International: “ we did not treat many very elderly people, Victims of the toxic waste dumping wait to consult doctors at the main hospital of Cocody in Abidjan, 7 September 2006. © Greenpeace but this may simply be because they could not make it to the hospital to receive treatment or did not have the strength to stand in the queues 222 all day to receive medications. ” 55 Chapter 5
56 Amnesty internAtionAl And greenpeAce netherlAnds Chapter 5 Effects on health Commonly reported symptoms Neurological – cephalalgia (headache) which some doctors noted appeared quickly after inhaling the odours and could occur along with dizziness and blackouts. Respiratory – respiratory symptoms were very frequently noted, and included dyspnoea (difficult or laboured breathing) resembling asthma attacks, coughs, thoracic pain and more rarely haemoptysis (coughing up of blood or bloodstained sputum). Cutaneous – stinging sensation on the skin, cutaneous pruritis (itching), various forms of cutaneous eruptions, severe itching. Some patients also had gynaecological and cardiovascular problems. 224 These were considered rarer, but doctors also noticed cardiac symptoms such as palpitations and tachycardia, as well as an increase in blood pressure. Doctors stated that they treated some serious gynaecological cases, including pregnant women who experienced severe pelvic and abdominal pain. A few doctors also noted cases of miscarriages, which they believed may have been linked to exposure to the waste, since these involved women who had had regular gynaecological consultations at the medical facility prior to the dumping, and whose pregnancies had been progressing completely normally up until their exposure. 225 Women interviewed by Amnesty International also described experiencing pain and changes in their menstrual cycles. 226 Digestive problems – bloating, abdominal and epigastric pain, nausea, diarrhoea. Some people living close to the dumping site also presented with haematemesis (vomiting blood) or melaenas (black tarry faeces, normally as a result of internal bleeding ). Ear, nose and throat (ENT) – rhinorrhea (runny nose), dysphasia (impairment of speech), epistaxis (nose bleed). Ophthalmological – stinging or burning eyes, red eyes and ocular pruritis (itching eyes), purulent lachrymal secretions (pus-like discharge from tear ducts), blurred vision and loss of visual acuity, conjunctivitis. The INPH study referred to above contained the following information of prevalence of symptoms amongst patients, based on an analysis of the survey forms: 227 Group of symptoms General or neurological symptoms ENT or pulmonary symptoms number of patIents (n = 98,108) 72,062 73.4 66,853 68.1 Digestive symptoms 54,845 55.9 Cutaneous symptoms 27,999 28.5 Ocular symptoms 17,350 17.7 percentaGe (%) The World Health Organization (WHO), which provided support for the medical response, reported that symptoms included “nosebleeds, nausea and vomiting, headaches, skin lesions, eye irritation and respiratory symptoms”, and stated that “[t]hese are consistent with exposure to the chemicals known to be in the waste.” 228
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