Thousands seek treatment from toxic waste exposure

So far, some 3,000 people in Cote d’Ivoire’s main city, Abidjan, have sought medical treatment after inhaling fumes from toxic waste dumped in residential areas, according to the United Nations.

The vile stench has caused a host of complaints, including intestinal and respiratory problems, nose bleeds, nausea and vomiting. Hospitals say three people have died and more patients are arriving at hospitals everyday.

“We are inundated. We are not only dealing with those ill from the toxic waste problem, but our regular patients too; it’s not easy.

The government has to find more personnel to help,” said Dr. Bernard Kouadio at the University Hospital Centre (CHU), in Cocody.

Cocody is one of a number of mostly poor residential neighbourhoods permeated by the sharp fumes coming off dumped toxic residue from gasoline cargo, shipped to Abidjan's port last month.

Though it is remains unclear what is in the waste, it is thought to contain acutely toxic, hydrogen sulphide, according to a report from the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

If allowed to stay in the environment, hydrogen sulphide could permeate soils and seep into ground water cause long-term damage and pollution, according to environmental group, Greenpeace.

The scandal has highlighted a global problem of waste control, according to Yannick Vicaire, Toxics Campaigner at Greenpeace, France.

“In this case we are seeing the extreme impact [of waste dumping] where it has led to direct poisoning of hundreds of people and even killed some, but in other cases dumping goes on far out at sea, and in those cases we are not seeing the impact,” said Vicaire.

An international agreement, the Basel Convention, was signed in 1989 to address hazardous waste disposal and included a special clause to protect poor nations that are less able to protect their environments from unscrupulous dumpers.

It is not yet clear whether the waste dumped in Abidjan contravenes that agreement.

Under the Basel Convention, the source country for any waste illegally dumped is held responsible for the clean up operation and must take back the waste, according to Greenpeace.

But just as the make-up of the substance in Abidjan remains unknown, identifying the source is even more murky.

The ship, the Probo Koala, that deposited the waste had been chartered by a Dutch company but was registered in Panama. However, its cargo could have come from another country entirely.

Nearly three weeks after the waste was dumped, a full clean up operation has yet to begin and Abidjan's residents are still living with the vile and potential fatal stench.

Public authorities authorised the dumping of the waste, saying they believed that it was sewage, according to OCHA.

Some of the substance is thought to have been dumped in sewage systems and in the lagoon in the heart of Abidjan.

Several of the suspected dumping sites are close to water sources, said OCHA.

In meetings with the UN, the government, which ostensibly resigned over the scandal, has acknowledged that it does not have the capacity to assess or clean up the waste and has called for assistance from international partners.

Cote d’Ivoire is a former beacon of stability in a region all too often beset by conflict. But that image was lost in 1999, when the country suffered its first ever coup d’etat. In 2002 it slipped into a civil war that has left the country divided.

Rebels hold the north of Cote d’Ivoire, but Abidjan lies in the government-controlled and more industrialised south of the country.

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