https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/nov/06/niger-delta-oil-spills-linked-infant-deaths
[More unhappy news from Nigeria.
links and images in on-line article]
Absolutely shocking': Niger Delta oil spills linked with infant deaths
Babies in Nigeria at double the risk of dying before they reach a month
old if mothers lived near the scene of an oil spill before conceiving,
study shows
Babies in Nigeria are twice as likely to die in the first month of life
if their mothers were living near an oil spill before falling pregnant,
researchers have found.
A new study, the first to link environmental pollution with newborn and
child mortality rates in the Niger Delta, shows that oil spills
occurring within 10km of a mother’s place of residence doubled neonatal
mortality rates and impaired the health of her surviving children.
Crucially, oil spills that occurred while the mother was still pregnant
had no effect on child or neonatal mortality. But even spills that
happened five years before conception doubled the neonatal mortality
rate from 38 deaths to 76 deaths for every 1,000 births, the data found.
“The results from the study are absolutely shocking,” said Roland
Hodler, an economics professor from the University of St Gallen in
Switzerland, who led the study. “I didn’t expect to see this effect on
pre-conception. Why we don’t find a stronger effect [on the foetus]
during the pregnancy is not entirely clear – maybe it is due to the
cumulative contamination of crude oil in the water and soil, which
increases over time. But that doesn’t explain the entire effect.
“This is a tragedy. Even four to five years prior to conception, an oil
spill still matters. I think this should be seen as a first-world
problem for something to be done.”
Regular, uncontrolled spills have been a prominent feature of Nigeria’s
oil industry – the nation’s primary source of GDP – since crude was
discovered there more than 60 years ago. An estimated 240,000 barrels of
crude oil are spilled in the Niger Delta every year, polluting
waterways, contaminating crops, and releasing toxic chemicals into the air.
A 2011 report by the UN Environment Programme estimated that, after
decades of repeated oil spills in Ogoniland, it would take 30 years to
reverse damage to public health and the regional ecosystem.
Unborn and newborn infants are most vulnerable to oil-related pollution
because they have not yet developed basic defences such as the
blood-brain barrier, which helps protect against toxic chemicals, the
study found. Even small doses of pollution are likely to be large in
comparison to an infant’s body weight, while mothers who ingest poisoned
food or contaminated water are also at greater risk of maternal
malnutrition and sickness, potentially increasing infant mortality
risks, said the researchers.
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By pairing georeferenced data from the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor –
which recorded the location of more than 6,600 spills between 2005 and
2015 – with the 2013 national demographic and health survey, Hodler and
his colleague Anna Bruederle were able to map oil spill locations in
relation to neonatal and child mortality rates among the surrounding
populations. The result was an analysis of roughly 5,040 children born
to 2,700 mothers in 130 clusters, all within 10km of the closest oil spill.
The researchers then compared siblings’ health histories, contrasting
the mortality rates of infants conceived or born before the first nearby
oil spill with those conceived or born subsequently.
The data proved that neonatal mortality was higher the closer the oil
spill was to the mother’s location, and that any oil spills prior to
conception increased the incidence of low weight-for-height, notably in
the first year of life.
The Nigerian government did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
Activists have called the findings “disturbing and disheartening”.
“It is shocking to consider how many children may have died in the past
50 years – since oil exploration started in Nigeria’s Niger Delta – as a
direct result of regular and uncontrolled oil spills,” said Debbie Ariyo
of Africans Unite Against Child Abuse, a charity that supports the
rights and welfare of African children.
“The ongoing environmental damage means that more children are exposed
to harmful chemicals in polluted drinking water, air and food produce.
Simply put, as long as the oil spills continue unabated and clean up of
the region is delayed, then unfortunately more children will be
harmfully impacted.”