The Agbogbloshie Market is the most toxic place on the planet, according to a report compiled by he Blacksmith Institute, a New York NGO. In its list of the ten most toxic places on earth, Agbogbloshie was considered more toxic than Chernobyl, where there was a nuclear explosion in 1986.
Agbogbloshie in Accra is a dumpsite that is the second-largest e-waste processing area in West Africa.
Ghana is one of the biggest importers of second-hand electronics, which are then stripped down. Anything that can be salvaged, is.
In Agbogbloshie, the report says, “the primary activity of concern” is the burning of sheathed cables to recover copper. Among other things, cables contain lead. When plastic is burned off copper wires, the smoke is extremely toxic, said Jack Caravanos, a senior scientist at the Blacksmith Institute.
Samples taken around in and around Agbogbloshie show a heavy presence of lead.
