Kenyans warned against eating Lake Nakuru fish due to harmful chemicals » Capital News

NAIROBI, Kenya, Mar 17 -The Nakuru County government has warned citizens against the consumption of fish harvested from Lake Nakuru following the high pesticide pollution presence in the lake.

Addressing the press, Livestock and Fisheries Chief Officer Michael  Cheruiyot, stated that recent tests have revealed a high presence of organochlorine pesticides both in the water and fish from the lake which has in turn made the fish toxic and unfit for human consumption.

“The fish in Lake Nakuru are not fit for human consumption. Research has been going on for many years. Sampling has been done on the waters, and the fish itself, and the recent research results of 2022, show that the fish have high levels of chemicals called Organochlorine pesticides,” he said.

Cheruiyot further stated that a total of 16 pesticides and heavy metals like lead and mercury were also detected.

Cheruiyot  pointed out that residents in Nakuru and Nairobi have been highly consuming the fish, a situation that is putting them at a high health risk.

“This fish is going all the way to Nairobi, and people are consuming it annoyingly,” he stated

According to Cheruiyot, experts picked 30 fish and water samples from the lake and conducted the test in 3 different institutions and gave similar results.

“They picked 30 pieces of fish from different corners of the fish, and they analyzed different institutions, they did them in Egerton, they did them in KEFRI and they also did them in Kabete, food veterinary laboratories and those laboratories gave almost similar results,” he stated.

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