the toxic truth - Greenpeace

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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 because 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. 63 Chapter 5
64 Amnesty internAtionAl And greenpeAce netherlAnds Chapter 5 Women from Djibi village who do not want to be identified. They believe their reproductive system has been affected by the toxic waste. © amnesty InternatIonal the impACt of rAinfAll Many people interviewed by Amnesty International, including doctors, have asserted that following periods of rainfall the “Probo Koala smell” returned to the air; this is reported to have occurred for many months after the initial dumping and probably relates to the release of additional quantities of mercaptans or other strong-smelling volatile sulphur compounds from the waste, either by physical disturbance or by reduction of the surface pH by the rainfall, or a combination of the two. We do not know if pH of surface portions of the waste was reduced sufficiently by rainfall to release hydrogen sulphide. The potential for formation and release of this compound would have been greater where waste was dumped into river channels, lagoons or in thin deposits on land (where neutralisation could have been much more rapid and efficient), even if the majority of the waste (dumped elsewhere) remained at a high pH because of its physical bulk and limited contact with water. This issue is dealt with further in Annex 1 of this report.” Widespread fear and anxiety “ You don’t know whether it kills … we have a right to know 272 what the impact has been on our health. ” The dumping sparked demonstrations all over the city as a result of people’s anger and fear about what had happened. On 15 September 2006, angry residents of the Akouédo district attacked the Minister of Transport, pulling him out of his car and forcing him to inhale fumes from the waste that had been dumped there nearly a month before. On 9 October 2006, the police used tear gas to disperse about 100, mainly young, demonstrators who had barricaded a main access to the port and set tyres ablaze to protest against the storing of containers of toxic waste. 273 Exposure to the overpowering smell and the health effects created a great deal of fear and mental distress amongst Abidjan’s population. In early September 2006, WHO noted the “growing anguish of the populations because of the frequency, number and seriousness of the symptoms presented by contaminated individuals”. 274 There were further waves of fear and distress each time the stench intensified, which reportedly occurred particularly after periods of rain when gases from the waste may have been released into the air. 275 The odours were reported to persist for some time even after a decontamination process was carried out (this process is described in Chapter 12). For example, commenting on the decontamination effort in October 2006, the
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