An environmental think tank in Cameroon has raised the alarm over the pollution of rivers in the country’s east and north. The Centre for Environment and Development (CED) says two Chinese gold mining companies are discharging toxic mercury and cyanide into the rivers every day, putting downstream communities and wildlife at risk.
Although a great number of scientific studies have shown that exposure even to small amounts of mercury can cause behavioural and neurological disorders as well as kidney failure, across gold-producing areas of eastern and northern Cameroon the toxic substance is handled without due precautions against poisoning workers likewise the environment.
Unfortunately, the World Health Organisation’s recommendations for miners to use alternative procedures in gold processing remain unfulfilled, in Cameroon and elsewhere.
