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Lead-poisoning victims in South Africa sue giant mining firm

A SUBSIDIARY of giant mining transnational Anglo American is being sued for alleged mass lead poisoning in Zambia under a class-action lawsuit lodged in a South African court.

The papers, lodged by a group of Zambian women and children on Wednesday, say that generations of people – more than 100,000 – were poisoned in their country’s Kabwe district.

Anglo American South Africa held shares in the mine between 1925 and 1974, when it was nationalised. The company denies responsibility, vowing that it will “defend its position.”

Lawyers insist that the parent firm is liable because of its role in "controlling, managing, supervising and advising on the technical, medical and safety aspects of the mine's operations.”

They said that the claimants were “principally young children” who suffered “alarming levels of lead poisoning,” causing damage to organs and psychological complaints.

“In pregnant women, lead they ingested as children is absorbed into their bones and released during pregnancy,” lawyers said.

The company has faced a number of previous lawsuits. In 2018, it paid compensation to tens of thousands of South African miners who had contracted deadly lung diseases.

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