Fetuses with birth abnormalities displays for study in Ghana, linked to illegal gold mining

(MENAFN) The remains of a fetus with serious birth abnormalities are kept in formalin for scientific study in a sealed plastic container. Located along the rear wall of a pathology lab at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana, the clear jar is around 70 cm tall.

In jars, on gruesome display, are almost a dozen additional fetuses with birth abnormalities. Between the ages of 18 and 39, none of their moms made it through childbirth. The fetus with the cleft lip had a mother who was only 20 years old. Her employment in an unauthorized gold mine, making a living from what has been called Ghana's gold rush, may have contributed to the premature deaths of the mother and child, according to the lab's management team. CNN was informed that nine of the 15 fetuses under study had mothers who worked in illicit gold mines, including the 20-year-old. The others resided in nearby mining settlements.

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