Odds are that a few weeks ago, most Senegalese would have looked blank if asked to comment on persistent organic pollutants”. Now, they’re only too aware of the dangers posed by these chemicals also known as POPs.
This follows the publication of a study which showed that dioxins had been found in eggs laid by free-range chickens housed near the Mbeubeuss dumpsite in the vicinity of Senegal’s capital–Dakar.
Dioxins are poisonous chemical compounds, typically produced in the incineration of municipal waste and during other processes that involve burning. They are amongst the POPs, which as the name suggests, linger in the environment, threatening the health of human beings and animals. POPs accumulate in the fatty tissues of various organisms, after being absorbed from food, water and air.
The study, released earlier this month, was conducted between January and March by the International Persistent Organic Pollutant Elimination Network, the Pesticide Action Network (PAN Africa) and the Czech-based Amika Association. It found that the amount of dioxins in the eggs was eleven times greater than the limit currently imposed by the European Union for these compounds.
Senegal has not yet set its own limits for dioxins, which are one of 12 POPs targeted for elimination by the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants.
However, the Dakar government has ratified the convention (this in 2003). The main goal of the joint study was to put pressure on Senegalese authorities, so that they would honour their commitment to reduce human exposure to POPs.
Exposure to dioxins has been linked to the development of cancer, reproductive abnormalities and heart disease, amongst other ailments all of which has gotten the Senegalese public up in arms. In the days following the release of the study, citizens condemned officials for their alleged failure to act in the face of the public health threat presented by POPs.
The authors of the study and other scientists also became frequent guests on call-in radio shows, where they fielded questions on the dangers of eating tainted eggs.
To protect people’s health, a broader study must be conducted to see if all eggs presently on the market are also contaminated with dioxin,” Momar Ndao, president of the Senegalese Consumers Organisation, told IPS. Given that locally-produced eggs are also exported to Gambia, Guinea Bissau, Mali and Mauritania, it may be more than the health of Senegalese citizens which is at stake.
However, the poultry industry with a turnover of 50-million dollars is fighting back.
The president of the Federation of Poultry Industry Workers (FAFA), Ousmane Lô, has threatened to lodge a complaint against PAN Africa, saying the study was not sufficiently representative. He points to the fact that just a few eggs were tested out of the millions produced nationally.
”Six eggs out of 350 million are negligibleàIt’s dangerous to generalize such results,” Lô noted.
Mamdou Laye Sene, another FAFA member, claims that other poultry farms located near the Mbeubeuss dump operate under more stringent procedures and that the eggs produced there are safe for consumption.
”The eggs produced in this area are produced in the same sanitary conditions as in the rest of the country and are thus safe to eat,” he says, adding that authorities should focus instead on the other dangers that Mbeubeuss poses to public health.
Established in 1968 in a dried out lake, the dump now extends over 55 hectares and receives 75 percent of the household waste that is produced daily in Dakar. According to Senegal’s Ministry of the Environment, a hird of the city’s hospital and industrial waste is also deposited in Mbeubeuss. Free-range chickens such as those which produced the contaminated eggs are said to feed off the dump.
A proposal to move waste disposal from Mbeubeuss to SÃ