Ghana is facing a silent but devastating public health emergency that is poisoning our children, weakening our communities and threatening the very future of the nation.
Two major studies within months have revealed alarming levels of lead, mercury, cadmium and other heavy metals in foods and cosmetic products consumed daily by millions of Ghanaians.
These findings are a direct threat to life, intelligence, productivity and national development.
The joint study by the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) and UNICEF (See Thursday December 11, 2025) exposes a chilling reality.
Products widely used by women and children such as kohl (kajikaji), turmeric, cereal mixes such as Tom Brown, bentonite clay (ayilo), and skin-lightening creams contain heavy metals at levels far above internationally accepted safety limits.
The most shocking revelation is lead levels of up to 11,000 parts per million in some kohl products, a staggering figure that is hundreds of times above the safe limit.
The Daily Graphic cannot have any word to describe this but outright poisoning.
Children are the most vulnerable victims.
Medical science is unequivocal that children absorb four to five times more lead than adults.
Even tiny amounts can permanently damage the brain, impair speech and learning, cause anaemia, kidney disease and aggressive behaviour, and reduce IQ.
Exposure in the womb can lead to miscarriage or stillbirth.
What this means is that we are unknowingly sabotaging the mental and physical potential of an entire generation.
Equally disturbing is the contamination of staple foods.
Turmeric, which is often perceived as healthy, has shown a 42 per cent failure rate for lead, with branded products on supermarket shelves among the worst offenders.
Cereal mixes consumed by infants and young children recorded dangerous cadmium levels, while bentonite clay, commonly used for cosmetic and medicinal purposes, also failed safety tests.
These findings shatter the assumption that packaged or branded products are inherently safe.
This crisis does not exist in isolation.
Only months ago, studies confirmed that food crops such as kontomire, cassava, tomatoes and pumpkin leaves from galamsey-prone areas, including Atiwa in the Eastern Region, were contaminated with mercury, arsenic and lead.
It is clear that illegal mining, improper disposal of electronic waste, used car batteries and weak environmental enforcement are poisoning our soil, water and food systems.
We must see the implications as national in scale. A country cannot develop when its children’s brains are damaged before they even enter the classroom.
A nation cannot thrive when its food supply is compromised.
And we must all see this as not only an environmental issue, it must be seen also as a human rights crisis and a development emergency.
We must therefore see the situation as urgent and take action on it without any delay.
The Daily Graphic thus calls on the government to declare heavy metal contamination a public health emergency.
This must be followed by rapid nationwide testing of high-risk food and cosmetic products, especially those consumed by children and pregnant women.
The Ministry of Health must also be fully equipped to diagnose and manage heavy metal exposure, with screening integrated into routine health care.
We propose also that enforcement must be ruthless and uncompromising.
The FDA and EPA need resources, laboratories and legal backing to remove contaminated products from the market and prosecute offenders.
Unregulated local production of cosmetics and food items must no longer be tolerated.
The paper urges that the fight against galamsey must move beyond rhetoric.
Until illegal mining is decisively stopped and polluted lands reclaimed, contamination will persist. Environmental crimes must be treated as crimes against national security.
Again, public education is critical. Citizens must be urgently and continuously informed about the risks, how to identify safer products and how to report violations.
We call on the media, civil society, religious and traditional leaders to all rise to this responsibility.
Finally, incentives such as tax holidays for manufacturers of stainless steel and safe food-contact materials should be implemented immediately to encourage safer alternatives.
This is a moment that demands national awakening.
The poison may be invisible, but its consequences are not. If we fail to act decisively today, we will pay an unbearable price tomorrow.
Ghana must rise — collectively, urgently and relentlessly — to safeguard the health and future of its people.
