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To: Nolitha Fakude, Chair of Anglo American South Africa & Natascha Viljoen, CEO of Anglo American South Africa
Tell Anglo American South Africa Ltd to compensate victims of lead poisoning in Kabwe, Zambia
It is alleged that Anglo American SA played a key role in the management of the medical, engineering and other technical services at the Kabwe mine and that they failed to ensure that adequate steps to prevent lead poisoning of the local residents were taken. Anglo American must pay compensation to the victims of lead poisoning; cover the cost of a) an effective blood lead screening program for children and pregnant women in Kabwe, and b) clean up and remediation of the area to ensure the health of future generations of children and pregnant women are not jeopardised.
Why is this important?
Anglo American South Africa Ltd was very involved in the management of the mine during its
most productive period (1925 - 1974). Tens of thousands of residents have been found to have developed high blood lead levels (BLLs) from environmental exposure to emissions from the Kabwe smelter and waste dumps. One of the latest studies estimates that in the Kabwe district there are 120,000 lead poisoning victims (i.e. with blood lead levels above the threshold standard set by the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention of 5μg/dl) [1]. An earlier 2015 study led by John Yabe of Hokkaido University in which he analysed the BLLsn of 246 children under the age of 7 from surrounding townships. He found that lead poisoning in Kabwe “is among the highest in the world, especially in children under the age of 3 years” [2].
To read up further: www.childrenofkabwe.com
[1] US Center for Disease Control and Prevention of 5μg/dl: https://www.cdc.gov/nceh/lead/prevention/blood-lead-
levels.htm?CDC_AA_refVal=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.cdc.gov%2Fnceh%2Flead%2Facclpp%2F
blood_lead_levels.htm
[2] Yabe, John & Nakayama, Shouta & Ikenaka, Yoshinori & Yohannes, Yared & Bortey-Sam,Nesta & Oroszlany, Balazs & Muzandu, Kaampwe & Choongo, Kennedy & Kabalo, Abel & Ntapisha, John & Mweene, Aaron & Umemura, Takashi & Ishizuka, Mayumi. (2014). Lead poisoning in children from townships in the vicinity of a lead-zinc mine in Kabwe, Zambia.