Heavy metals like lead, mercury, and cadmium chemicals, mostly traced to illegal mining activities (galamsey), have gradually crept into our food chain, causing devastating effects on both the born and unborn.

Ongoing research by a forensic histopathologist and former Head of Pathology at KNUST and Komfo Anokye Teaching Hospital (KATH), Prof. Dr Paul Poku Sampene Ossei, has revealed alarming trends in the rising cases of spontaneous abortions among pregnant women in Ghana.

Approximately five hundred cases of spontaneous abortions (miscarriages) have been recorded in research that links these cases to severe contamination of placentas and the presence of heavy metals, such as lead and mercury, resulting from galamsey activities.

A spontaneous abortion is the unintentional expulsion of an embryo or fetus from the uterus before it is viable.

Speaking on JoyNews’ Newsfile on Saturday, September 27, Prof. Sampene warned that galamsey is poisoning unborn babies and endangering the lives of mothers.

“I have about 500 cases where women go to the hospital and abort their babies because of the concentration of these heavy metals in their placenta,” he disclosed.

According to him, his research involved over 4,000 placentas examined from different regions across Ghana. The results showed dangerous levels of heavy metal contamination on both the maternal and foetal sides. “The placentas are all contaminated, polluted with heavy metals,” he said.

The dangers of these metals extend beyond pregnancy losses. Another effect of galamsey is the excessive use of alum to address the increasing turbidity of water. Ghana Water Company Limited, the nation’s largest water supplier, has resorted to using higher concentrations of alum. Prof. Sampene cautioned that high levels of aluminium hydroxide pose serious health risks.

According to him, one of the consequences of excessive alum use is kidney disease, which is already on the rise. He warned that if left unchecked, “Ghana will be in big trouble.”

“Of course, people are talking about turbidity, and then the Water Company is saying that they are using more alum. Alum is aluminium hydroxide, that is the full name, aluminium hydroxide, and this aluminium hydroxide, when taken for a long period, in fact at higher concentration, has a lot of what you call health effects. One of them is kidney problems.

“When you use alum, that’s aluminium hydroxide, which is used to purify the water, especially when they are using that concentration, which I believe is so high, it’s going to cause kidney problems, it’s going to irritate the respiratory tract, and it’s going to cause what we call neurological defects. All these things have been proven, have been studied and proven to be important, and we have to be very careful about them now. This goes apart from the effects that we are seeing around,” he explained.

He expressed particular concern about the effects of these metals on children, whose developing organs and systems are unable to filter them effectively.

“Do we have what it takes to even solve the kidney diseases that are coming out now? Dialysis is very expensive, and nobody gets it for free. Children are also being diagnosed with chronic kidney disease. These are the realities we have to face,” he said.

Prof. Sampene further disclosed that birth deformities are increasingly being recorded in mining areas, though some doctors are hesitant to speak out publicly.

“Ever since I drew attention to this, doctors in mining areas tell me they are recording a lot of deformities in babies. Most of them fear coming out, but it is happening,” he revealed.

Reports linking birth deformities in children to galamsey (illegal mining) activities began gaining public attention around 2019. In August 2024, toxicologist Yakubu Adam published a detailed feature article on Modern Ghana titled “Galamsey and Its Associated Congenital Anomalies: A Public Health Concern in Ghana.” It highlighted the role of mercury exposure, particularly methylmercury, in causing congenital anomalies such as microcephaly, cerebral palsy, and developmental delays.

Given the devastating and fatal effects galamsey is having in Ghana, Prof. Sampene expressed concern about the lack of urgency, especially on the part of the government, and criticised the politicisation of the fight.

“And so, oh yes, sometimes it’s so saddening, like I said earlier, that when we see politicians trying to equalise or trying to trivialise the whole thing, it’s so sad. And of course, it’s something that people are playing with. In fact, for me, I’m not interested in whether the government or the president declares a state of emergency. But the most important thing is that the galamsey activity is really killing us,” he lamented.

Prof. Sampene also cited additional dangers, referencing KATH data, which showed that between 2019 and 2021, drowning accounted for 40% of unnatural deaths in the Ashanti Region, with 25% of these linked to abandoned galamsey pits.

“The next thing is drowning. These abandoned pits collect a lot of water, and children, for some reason, like to go and swim in them, and then, in attempting to swim, they drown. In Konfo alone, I think between 2019 and 2021, I carried out that research by going through the data in Konfo, and then I was trying to compare the profile of unnatural death in the Ashanti Region, especially the northern part.

“What it showed me was that drowning alone took in fact, the total was 2,470 drowning alone was 40%. Road traffic accidents took the highest number, poisoning and so forth were there, but drowning alone accounted for 40%. And out of the 40%, the ones that came from galamsey abandoned pits alone were 25%,” he added. He further appealed to both the National Democratic Congress (NDC) and the New Patriotic Party(NPP) to rise above partisanship and address what he described as a national health emergency.

“I would have wished that the two main political parties, NDC and NPP, come together and say enough is enough. Otherwise, if care is not taken, we will soon see people walking but with very high cognitive impairment. Mercury inhalation alone can damage the brain. We are seriously in trouble,” he warned.

His remarks come after President Mahama called for patience and calm following the growing pressure on him from stakeholders and citizens to declare a state of emergency over the devastating and deadly effects of galamsey.

Speaking during his first media encounter on September 10, the President explained that the government doesn't need to declare a state of emergency to fight illegal mining because the laws already give us enough power to act; we just need to enforce them more vigorously.

“I’ve been reluctant to implement a state of emergency in the galamsey fight because we’ve not exhausted the powers we even have without a state of emergency. We have the opportunity to arrest anybody, to confiscate any such thing. The laws for forest protection and all that give us enough powers to be able to act,” he said.

Galamsey is one major challenge and a cancer eating into the country’s ecosystem. The fight against it is a long-standing one with little to no positive and generally significant and impressive effect; however, past and present administrations remain relentless in the fight against the environmental demon.

Ghana in August lost right gallant men who were en route to an event on anti-galamsey in a gory and heart-wrenching plane crash on August 6, in Adansi.

They were burned beyond recognition while on their way to an event to dissuade Ghanaians from engaging in illegal mining activities. Their remains had to be collected in cocoa sacks for forensic examination.

Consequently, their death heightened calls from officials, concerned citizens and other stakeholders on President Mahama to be fierce and stern in his fight against the menace.