A very harmful practice has persisted for decades and gradually become normalized, as meat consumers overlook the dangers linked to using scrap tires to burn and shear goats, cows, rams, and other animals intended for human consumption.
According to health experts, the practice is not only primitive but it is harmful and can lead to serious health challenges.
Indeed, the source of meat for residents of Makurdi the Benue State capital has become an issue based on renewed concerns over the method of processing meat from abattoirs in the state and its environs.
Visits to the two major abattoirs in the state capital located at the North Bank Cattle Market and the Wurukum Market confirmed this dangerous trend.
Apart from the deplorable state of the abattoirs in these markets, the manner butchers process the meat they sell to buyers and consumers has become a major health concern for everyone that patronise these markets.
The practice of using tyres to shear the animals before the meat is sold to buyers, who throng the abattoirs daily is also a source of air pollution, given that the soot generated could lead to breathing issues, including aggravated asthma, bronchitis and other severe respiratory illnesses.
Health experts also warned that the smoke arising from the burning tyres contain dangerous chemicals and heavy metals which are usually deposited in the meat that people consume; thereby exposing unsuspecting consumers to life-threatening diseases.
A medical practitioner, Dr. David Terna, told Arewa Voice that apart from the pollution that the practice creates, it also poses serious threat to the lives of meat consumers. He wants the authorities to ban the practice without further delay in order to save lives. He noted that those who consume the meat sheared with scrap tyres are exposed to chemicals like carbon monoxide, mercury, copper, lead and several other heavy metals and chemicals that could be deposited in the internal organs of the body like liver, lungs, intestines and others that could generate diseases like cancer and other terminal diseases.
Dr. Terna pointed out that even the butchers who engage in the practice are also not spared as they inhale much of the soot on a daily basis, thereby exposing themselves to life-threatening diseases.
“They engage in the practice not knowing that they are exposing themselves to dangerous chemicals and killing themselves gradually,” he said.
One of the butchers at the Wurukum Abattoir, who identified himself as Idris, said the use of tyres to burn the cattle and goats makes their job very easy.
He also argued that after burning, the butchers ensure that the meat is thoroughly washed to remove any deposit from the tyres.
Idris said: “When we use tyres we burn the cow or goat faster but after that, we wash it thoroughly. You can see that we are very close to River Benue so we ensure we get enough water to wash off the black smoke from the body of the meat. So people should not be afraid that chemicals are on the meat they buy from the market.”
But the Director of Public Health at the Benue State Ministry of Health, Mrs Esther Menger, expressed worry over the unwholesome and primitive practice, promising that steps would be taken to put an end to the practice.
Mrs. Menger said: “I am worried about the development. Just a few days ago, we discussed it in the ministry when we had a meeting and it was decided that we embark on urgent enlightenment programme so that the people will stop doing that because it is a very serious health hazard to members of the public.
“Apart from that we are also taking steps to check the manner cooked food is exposed before the consumers buy them because that poses a lot of health hazards too.
“So, in the last meeting we held, it was resolved that we are going to work towards addressing that issue before the end of the month because of its very serious health hazard. And we will ensure that the practice is stopped.”
Also, the Commissioner for Agriculture and Food Security, Prof. Moses Ogbaji, disclosed that the state had banned the practice of shearing animals with scrap tyres. The commissioner, however, expressed worry over an attempt by butchers to flout the order by the state government on the matter.
“The Ministry has initiated action through the Department of Livestock and Veterinary Medicine to put an end to the practice.
“We frowned at it and we have pleaded to them not to use tyres. We have carried our arrests. But from the happenings now we will have to go back to the field to arrest culprits.
“The butchers are very stubborn but they cannot continue to flout the orders of the government. We will have to embark on more enlightenment on the issue to put an end to it because of the health implications.”
It is not yet clear when the state will embark on a physical inspection to put an end to the unhealthy method. But it is also not known if the butchers, who have been depending on the crude method for decades, are willing and ready to forgo the method for a new one. The real problem, however, is that the government has not yet set up any new method of animal shearing or technology that can offer an alternative.
