A crime of genocidal proportions, for which the galamsey kingpins are allowed to operate, without arrest and prosecution!
Mercury and cyanide are used to process for gold at galamsey sites, leading to degradation of the soil, destruction of farms, and poisoning of our waterbodies and food chain with mercury and cyanide.
Pregnant with medical terminology, I was a bit reluctant in discussing the effects of Chronic Organic Mercury Poisoning of the citizenry, due to galamsey activities, as this may be beyond the scope of this platform; however, one would have to, considering the genocidal implications of the problem.
There is the need to increase pressure on the political leaders, through mass public outcry, for the former to institute measures to bring a lasting end to this insanity of criminal genocide against current and future generations of Ghanaians.
Chronic Organic Mercury Poisoning (Minomata Disease aka Hydrargyra aka Mercurialism)
Minamata disease” (humans) –High-level exposure to methylmercury is known as Minamata disease. First reported chronic organic mercurialism of cats, birds, and humans in the Minamata Bay area of Japan; associated with fish/shellfish containing organomercurials ( methylmercury) from industrial waste effluent
Risk factors – consumption of fish, which may contain mercury from galamsey activities.
IN HUMANS:
- Congenital Form
- Neurological Form
- Skin Form (Pink Disease aka Acrodynia in children): skin becomes pink and peels. Congenital form:
A congenital form of the disease can also affect fetuses in the womb and may cause cerebral palsy. Heavy or prolonged exposure can do irreversible damage, in particular in fetuses, infants, and young children. Neurological form:
is a neurological disease caused by severe mercury poisoning. Signs and symptoms include ataxia, numbness in the hands and feet, general muscle weakness, loss of peripheral vision, and damage to hearing and speech. In extreme cases, insanity, paralysis, coma, and death follow within weeks of the onset of symptoms. Skin Form (Pink Disease aka Acrodynia in children): skin becomes pink and peels.
· Mercury levels can affect DNA methylation status, and is implicated in schistosomus reflexus syndrome in Olive Ridley sea turtles (Martin-Del-Campo, Vet Pathol. 2019)
INORGANIC MERCURY (Mercuric chloride) causes cancer as it has caused increases in several types of tumors in rats and mice, while methyl mercury has caused kidney tumors in male rats. The EPA has classified mercuric chloride and methyl mercury as human cancer causing agents (ATSDR, EPA)
Lesions in other organs
· Kidneys : Acute Kidney Failure
· * Heart: Degeneration of cardiac Purkinje cells ( leading to Cardiac Arrest).
INORGANIC Hg SALTS (e.g., HgCl2):
· Highly soluble and toxic to cells of the gastrointestinal tract and kidney if ingested
· Acute toxicity following ingestion – severe abdominal pain, vomiting, and diarrhea; mercury chloride has a coagulative effect(destruction/death) of the lining of the intestines.
· After initial episode, death can occur several days later, a result of nephrosis (Acute kidney failure) with uremia
TYPICAL FINDINGS IN HUMANS AND ANIMALS.
Brain (Cerebrum Cerebellum) lesions:
· Acute neuronal degeneration (Due to ischemia) – Most profound in the middle laminae of the cerebral cortex ( of visual cortex)
· Moderate gliosis – both microgliosis and astrocytic
· *Fibrinoid necrosis of the media of the leptomeningeal arteries– more prominent in swine than in cattle
*- *Necrosis of granule cells in cerebellum*
Horses: Total body Alopecia(Total Loss of hair)
Dr. Alfred
E-mail: alawere@yahoo.com
July 11, 2023
Culled and compiled mainly from a combination of professional knowledge and literature from the American Forces Institute of Pathology.
