Toxic soil

Kabwe, a mining city in central Zambia, has a century old history of lead and zinc mining and smelting. Kabwe is nowadays one of the most soil polluted places on earth with residual toxic particles in the ground

Kabwe, a mining city in central Zambia, has a century old history of lead and zinc mining and smelting. Kabwe is nowadays one of the most soil polluted places on earth with residual toxic particles in the ground. The amount of lead particles in the soil is estimated to be at least 10 times above internationally approved safety limits and even higher in hotspots like the Kasanda neighbourhood where miners live beside the mining complex.The vast majority of children have levels of lead in their blood well above the safety limits, and causes brain, liver and hearing damage among other, in extreme cases death is the likely outcome. Children in young age are particular vulnerable as they have the tendency to swallow the most when playing outside and frequently put their hands to their mouth. Nearly 75% of children in Kabwe would need medical treatment to remove metals and minerals from their body.