Health experts are warning of food poisoning at the Agbogbloshie market in Accra due to toxic emissions from burning of electronic waste material in the area.
The situation is even more alarming as most of the food items consumed by the people of Accra come from the Agbogloshie, which has now become the hub and dumping site for the about 50 million of electronic waste generated annually globally.
Electronic waste materials as well as car tyres are daily deposited at a section of the Agbogbloshie market for burning by scrap dealers whose ultimate aim is to retrieve the copper in those materials for export.
Available figures from the Ussher Forte Polyclinic show residents in the area are mostly exposed to communicable and respiratory diseases as a result of the continuous burning of e-waste materials by the scrap dealers.
A latest documentary, Labour of Death, produced by TV3’s Paa Kwesi Asare has exposed the risk posed by the activities of scrap dealers at the Agbogbloshie.
The 20-minute documentary which currently airs on TV3, also exposes the incidence of child labour in the e-waste burning business and the failure of environmental protection experts to halt the booming business.
Though the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) told TV3 the practice had been stopped, but when TV3 showed evidence of the practices still ongoing in the area with impunity, it expressed surprised at the development.
Watch the full documentary here
By 3news.com | Ghana