According to health experts eating stale foods can be poisonous. But did you also know that eating fresh food from a mining town could be as poisonous as the hemlock that killed Socrates?

Market days at Bogoso are spectacular.

Bogoso is one of the mining communities in the Prestea Huni Valley District in the Western Region of Ghana. But the the town itself glows in dust. Before that, let's take a step back to the roads that lead you into Bogoso.

The 30km stretch road from Tarkwa to Bogoso (below, pictured) is one that can be said to be unfriendly. It's full of potholes and dust that can turn a colorless dress into one with vivid colourful. 

Continuous mining activities have given the town and its surrounding communities a common appearance, a stark orange-red. Dust is something that cannot be avoided in Bogoso.

But a river of people goes there to trade despite the discomfort that the dust and the road pose. This is not because there is nowhere else to trade but because Bogoso is their district capital and one is sure of getting all the freshe food needed.

Food crops such as cassava, yam, cocoyam, plantain, tomato, orange, apple, and pawpaw are all paraded either on the bare floor or mounted on stands and containers to attract visitors and the town dwellers.

The yelling of market women and the blowing of car horns is also one activity that cannot be avoided on that day. But people trade amid all this in their quest of getting all the freshest food stuffs even though they are very expensive.

However, the Executive Director of the Center for Environment Impact Analysis, Samuel Obiri Yeboah, says in an interview that food crops from mining communities are not safe for consumption due to the continuous release of chemicals from the mining activities. He said while individuals are at direct risk of inhaling in these poisonous chemicals, plants absorbs these poisonous chemicals from the atmosphere and then transfer it to human beings through ingestion.

He continued that most of the water bodies in mining towns have been contaminated. These water bodies are the very ones that are used in watering the food crops. Therefore as one consume the food crops in such areas he/she is indirectly taking in the poisonous chemicals transferred from the polluted water to the plant.

Another reason why food crops from a mining town such as Bogoso is not safe for consumption is the concentration of Arsenic substance in mining towns. Research conducted in 2008 by the Wassa Association of Communities Affected by Mining (WACAM) shows that the arsenic concentration in mining towns is significantly higher than in non-mining towns.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), arsenic is a natural component of the earth’s crust and is widely distributed throughout the environment in the air, water and land. It is highly toxic in its inorganic form.

The diseases associated with this substance are different types of cancer and a non-censorial disease such as the blackening of the foot. Therefore one is likely to be exposed to these diseases after continuously consuming food from these mining towns.

Interestingly, mining towns are not the only ones at risk. The purchase and consumption of food crops from mining towns by non-residents makes them secondary victims. So the next time you go to any of Agbogbloshie, Ada Foah, Kejetia, SAEMA or Ho Central markets - or any of the major markets around Ghana - to get your fresh foods, do ask where it is coming from.

It just may save your life.

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The writer is a student at the Ghana Institute of Journalism. Email:agnesamaansah@gmail.com