TAKE MEASURES TO PREVENT CARELESS USE OF MERCURY

Scores of jobless young people are increasingly being lured into the mining industry where the unregulated use of mercury is rife.
There are many chemicals that produce similar results as mercury, which is a poisonous chemical element with many irreversible health effects.
Unfortunately, some unscrupulous gold mine owners put profits before the health of their employees.
While the creation of jobs ranks high in the government’s priorities, the fact remains that thousands youth hit the job market with little or no skills at all.
This compels them to seek quick money, including through working at small-scale mining sites, many of which are unlicensed and unregulated.  This is where dangerous chemicals such as mercury are used inappropriately and carelessly.
Exposure to mercury and its compounds is harmful to human health. Foetuses and young people are prone to serious and sometimes deadly effects of the chemical.
Needless to say, economic hardships have been forcing thousands of young men into gold mines, which use unregulated chemicals.  Sadly, youth are consigned to an early grave, while their employers laugh all the way to the bank.
No compromise should be entertained in the health sector. Many young people are either temporarily or permanently incapacitated because of the reckless use of mercury and other chemicals.
Obviously, owners of small-scale gold mines know the effects of mercury use, but for profits’ sake, they ignore safety issues and expose the youngsters to deadly substances.
Mercury also goes a long way in affecting the environment in many ways, so the latest call to strictly regulate its use is praiseworthy.
Metallic mercury mainly causes health effects when inhaled as vapour and is absorbed through the lungs.
 Symptoms of prolonged exposure include tremors and emotional changes, including mood swings, irritability, nervousness and excessive shyness).
Mining and health ministries should walk the talk on how to defuse this ticking time bomb.
Human health should come first no matter how lucrative a business may be.

END MODERN-DAY SLAVERY

This year’s International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and Its Abolition passed quietly on Monday. Over two centuries have passed since the transatlantic slave trade, the most abominable and cruel from of slavery, was abolished in 1807, but we cannot run away from the fact that modern-day slavery has swiftly taken its place.

Every year, between 600,000 and 800,000 people are tricked and trafficked across international borders, and end up living in bondage far away from their homelands. It is estimated that there are 27 million humans in slavery today, which is a greater number than at any other point in the world’s history.

Modern-day slavery takes advantage of vulnerable people. Foreign national victims are often lured to affluent Western nations with false promises of a good education and a good life, but end up being forced to cook, clean and care for their masters’ children. They are invariably forbidden from leaving and are often beaten and sexually abused. This must end.