La Brea kids falling ill

By STACY MOORE Wednesday, June 24 2009
http://www.newsday.co.tt/news/0,102606.html

DUST from the Alutrint construction site in La Brea has taken a toll on the health of nearby residents, with at least three children falling ill and doctors telling their parents that they (the children) developed throat infections as a result of the dust.

One of the children, Daniel Nathaniel, five, has been bed-ridden since coming down with the infection. The affected families live at Square Deal in La Brea, where residents have been protesting against the dust from the Alutrint construction site.

Nathaniel’s mother Arlene Nathaniel, 32, said he fell ill a week ago when he developed a persistent cough along with a high fever. He also complained, the mother said, of chest pains. She took him to the Point Fortin District Hospital where a doctor confirmed he was suffering with a throat infection as a result of dust inhalation. Yesterday, residents continued their protest under two camps at Square Deal near the entrance to the smelter construction site. They said that clouds of dust caused by the construction of a power plant — Trinidad Generation Unlimited Combined Cycle Power Plant — envelops the area almost daily. Holding a copy of the medical report in her hand at her home, Nathaniel, said that she had been treating her son with antibiotics prescribed by the doctor. Nathaniel has not been able to attend school since Monday. “He had been in bed for three days and he could not move. For three days I have watched my son cough, cry and roast with hot fever,” Nathaniel said. She also said that young Daniel has also developed a rash inside his mouth. At a nearby house, parents of a seven-month-old baby boy said that they took their child to three different paediatricians after he started to lose his appetite last week. Requesting anonymity, the mother said: “I don’t want to come to any conclusions as to what is causing my baby to fall ill. But we are living in the area which is blanketed with dust, so it could very well be the cause,” she said. The plant which was commissioned two weeks ago by Prime Minister Patrick Manning will cost $786 million and will service aluminium plants to be built along the south-west peninsula. Last week Justice Mira Dean Armorer ruled that the process by which the Environment Management Authority (EMA) granted a Certificate of Environmental Clearance, was flawed. The ruling effectively put a hold on the construction of the plant.