Monday, April 21, 2025

Mercury poisoning – clarification

In our last edition, we ran a story on the front page under the headline: “Botswana in acute mercury poison scare.”

The preliminary results of the study were obtained from the proceedings of the International Conference on Environmental Health
Organised by the Ministry of Health.

The Sunday Standard would like to clarify that those were preliminary findings and mercury vapor was measured from four clinics under Gaborone City Council. The results, therefore, do not include Gaborone Private Hospital and Princess Marina Hospital, which are yet to be studied as the research is ongoing.

We regret any inconvenience caused by our failure to clarify that in our last edition. The Research Principal investigator, Bontle Mbongwe, says she is pleased with the cooperation and the response she and her team are getting from participating facilities, especially in the Gaborone City Council where the study has already been initiated.

“It is through research that the Government of Botswana can be able to make informed policies and take precautionary action to protect the health of the public,” she said.

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