Niger Delta's Oil Pollution

There are hundreds of oil spills every year in Nigeria from pipelines belonging to different companies. The same international oil companies behave very differently in Nigeria than they do in Norway or Texas. The Nigerian government has failed to regulate these oil companies

A recent report by a group of scientists at the University of St Gallen in Switzerland may hold a clue to what happened. The research is based entirely on data

It found that children born within 10km (six miles) of an oil spill were twice as likely to die in their first month.

Its writers took two sets of data - the Nigerian Oil Spill Monitor, which records the time and location of oil spills, and the Demographic Health Survey, which has records of the birth histories of Nigerian mothers. They looked at children conceived after a spill and compared their health outcomes with siblings who were born before the spill. By only looking at siblings, the research rules out many other variables like poverty, diet or health of the parents. It found those conceived after the spill were twice as likely to die in their first month.

"The effect was much stronger than I expected - larger and longer lasting," says Roland Hodler, professor of economics at the University of St Gallen and co-author of the report. "We found that even if there is an oil spill three or four years prior to conception, it still has a strong effect on a future new-born."

 There is surprisingly little research into the effect that crude oil exposure from on-shore spills has on human health. When crude oil spills on land, it seeps into the soil, the air and the water table. It releases certain harmful chemicals - such as benzene and toluene. Benzene is a known carcinogen while toluene can cause kidney and liver damage. Many on-shore spills also cause fires, which released toxic fumes that can cause respiratory problems.

"When the respiratory tracts are blocked by these particulates, we see health issues like asthma, bronchitis, emphysema. We have drowsiness, loss of concentration, these are related. For pregnant women, if they are exposed to open crude and they inhale these emissions, it will affect the forming of the foetus."  says Dr Vincent Weli, an air pollution meteorologist at the University of Port Harcourt.

There is an urgent need for more investigation into what this oil is doing to people's health. Until that happens hundreds, maybe even thousands, more children could be at risk.