Pollution: Health Audit To Be Carried Out On Ogoni Residents
The Federal Government plans on carrying out a health audit of the Ogoni people in Rivers, so as to deduce the effects of prolonged exposure to hydrocarbons on them, according to Dr. Ferdinand Giadom, project coordinator, Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), in Bori, Rivers State, yesterday.
He stated that HYPREP, under the Federal Ministry of Environment, was eager in carrying out the medical audit in compliance with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland.
He said that the audit was a standard practice considering that wherever there was an oil spillage, chronic diseases can usually be detected amongst the residents who are exposed to prolonged hydrocarbons.
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“So, UNEP recommended that HYPREP carries out public health studies which will go into public health registries, so that we can understand the trend of prevalent diseases in Ogoni communities. Anywhere there is oil spill in the world; there are certain debilitating conditions or diseases that are associated with chronic, prolonged exposure to petroleum hydrocarbons.The diseases present themselves in a wide spectrum from low-end impacts to high-end impacts.”
Dr. Giadom, who is an environmental geologist, explained that people who were exposed to ‘low-end’ hydrocarbons usually suffer from anger issues, hormonal imbalances and miscarriages in pregnancy.
“The high-end impact results in diseases like cancer. To this end, HYPREP has also moved to begin the process of entering into our communities to interact with the people and take data. Information will also be gathered on the kind of disease conditions that are prevalent in our communities, so that we will find lasting solutions to these issues.”
