the toxic truth - Greenpeace

the toxic truth
The MACA prison in Abidjan. Waste dumped
close by. © amnesty InternatIonal
prisoners left exposed to toxiC wAste
Toxic waste was also dumped a few
metres from a prison, Maison d’Arrêt et
de Correction, known as MACA prison,
which had more than 4,300 inmates
at that time. 262 The juvenile block was
located closest to where the waste
had been dumped. One inmate of this
block, reported to be 12 or 13 years
of age, was recorded as having died
from the effects of the waste. 263 The
doctor who treated him stated: “He had
been suffering from various symptoms,
including vomiting, coughing and
itching and pimples all over his body.
When he was presented to me, he
was losing consciousness, and had
little pulse or blood pressure. He was
evacuated to the CHU de Treichville
where he died two days later”. 264
Another juvenile inmate is also
believed to have died as a result of exposure
to the waste. He complained of
symptoms “soon after the odours began”
265 and was found dead in his cell
the next morning. However, because
this death took place before the prison
authorities were aware of the toxic
waste, the death was not recorded as
related to the dumping. 266
The prison doctor also stated that, although
an increasing number of patients
were presenting with symptoms such as
rhinitis, eye irritation and thoracic pain
during the week of 21 August 2006, the
situation began to deteriorate seriously
in the first week of September, after a
heavy downpour of rain.
“ A number of young prisoners
then fell ill ... this particular group
had been working in the gardens
outside the building, even closer to
where the waste had been dumped.
those who became most seriously
ill were those who had stayed in the
garden longest. they presented at
the clinic complaining of burning and
stinging sensations in the thorax,
nasal, ocular and laryngeal irritations.
the symptoms became progressively
worse. By around midday, we also
noted symptoms such as muscular
pain, arthralgia, nausea, vomiting,
diarrhoea, cephalgia, asthenia and
several cases of epistaxis and even
two cases of hemarturia. [headache,
muscle weakness, nosebleeds and
blood in urine, respectively] ”
dR BouAffou
Head of the clinic at MACA267 Because of the growing number of
sick children in MACA prison, the
authorities evacuated all the minors on
8 September 2006. All the pregnant
and breastfeeding women were evacuated
next, but the rest of the inmates
were not moved from the overcrowded
prison, and continued to be exposed to
the waste and its associated adverse
health impacts. The prison doctor
recommended the evacuation of all the
inmates but this was not carried out.
He told Amnesty International that it
was felt to be logistically impossible
to evacuate over 4,000 prisoners be-
cause the other prisons in the country
were much smaller and were already
congested. 268
Although these inmates remained at
MACA, the authorities did not clean up
the waste from outside the prison until
October 2006, and people continued
to suffer from a variety of health
impacts.
Dr Bouaffou noted that: “Virtually all
the prisoners whose cells faced the
waste found it extremely difficult to
breathe at night. Many told me how
they passed their evenings breathing
through rags or a pillow.” 269 During
the medical emergency, the prison
clinic treated 1,780 people. 270 Dr
Bouaffou also stated that: “Many of
the inmates suffered a combination
of symptoms. Perhaps 80 per cent
of the inmates suffered from intense
headaches. Pharyngitis was a very
common problem. Perhaps 20 per cent
of inmates suffered from nosebleeds.
Most had streaming noses. Many had
serious digestive problems. Very many
of the prisoners were also afraid to
eat during the crisis.” 271 He also said
that prisoners had a recurrence of
their symptoms when the waste was
cleaned up from outside the prison.
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Chapter 5