The unhealthy practice has been going on for decades. Over time, it has been accepted as normal as meat consumers continue to ignore the dangers associated with the method: using scrap tyres to shear goats, cows, ram and other animals 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 patronises 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. (Vanguard)