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The Federal Government is planning to carry out a health audit of the Ogoni people in Rivers, to ascertain the effect of prolonged exposure to hydrocarbons on them, Dr. Ferdinand Giadom, project coordinator, Hydrocarbon Pollution Remediation Project (HYPREP), said in Bori, Rivers, yesterday.
He said HYPREP, under the Federal Ministry of Environment, was desirous to carrying out the medical audit in compliance with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) Report on Ogoniland.
He said the audit was a standard practice considering that wherever there was oil spillage, chronic diseases are usually detected among residents exposed to prolonged hydrocarbons.
“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.”
Giadom, an environmental geologist, said people who were exposed to ‘low-end’ hydrocarbon usually suffered anger issues, hormonal imbalance and miscarriage 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.”
