illegal mining causing brain damage, sub fertility in Nigeria, says university Don

A university Don, Professor Oluwole Busayo Akinola has identified illegal mining activities in some parts of the country as a major factor causing  brain damage and subfertility  and other complicated health problems among men

Akinola,  a Professor of Human Anatomy  of the Department of Human Anatomy, College of Health Science, University of Ilorin made this known while delivering the 213 inaugural lecture of the institution last weekend in Ilorin  titled “human Anatomy  Beyond Flesh and Bones”

He explained that the illegal mining activities had increased the high morbidity and mortality in the affected communities including brain damage  and male subfertility  arising from lead toxicity  and he  admonished  the government to regulate the activities of the miner’s to protect the mental and reproductive health of  the people  pointing out that infertility  is no more women problems but also applicable to men                                  Akinola further urged  the  Federal Government to establish forensic DNA databases and forensic laboratories across the country to check the high rates of crimes in the nation to assist the security agencies in their investigations

He emphasized that with the aid of forensic DNA profiling (DNA fingerprinting), it is easier to track and prosecute offenders, and by so doing enhance national security, adding that graduates of the Anatomy degree program are a source of skilled human resources that can be given short training to operate such forensic laboratories.

The Don, who had earlier said that human anatomy is much more than a study of flesh and bones, stressed that modern anatomists actively contribute to emerging disciplines such as bioinformatics, computational biology, genomics, proteomics, and forensic science.

According to him, “Anatomy continues to take the traditional lead as one of the foundation courses in the undergraduate curricula of medical and allied health professions to ensure the adequacy of material and human resources required for teaching and research in anatomical sciences.

“With continuous training and re-training and the availability of state of the art equipment, anatomists would always be in the frontier of promoting the health of the public through advanced research in virtually all fields of medical science through their involvement in undergraduate and postgraduate medical education”, he said.

Prof. Akinola, however, urged that Universities in the country should pursue the establishment of electron and confocal microscopy suites for teaching and research purposes, to re-position morphologists to deliver beyond flesh and bones.