Overview
- Independent testing of 70 residents and workers in Ogijo, Nigeria found seven in ten with harmful blood-lead levels and every worker poisoned, with more than half of tested children at risk of lifelong brain damage.
- Environmental sampling around the smelters showed dust and soil contamination up to 186 times hazardous thresholds, including more than 1,900 parts per million at a school, in a community of over 20,000 people nearby.
- Records identify True Metals as a major, highly hazardous recycler that supplied lead to factories making batteries for Ford, General Motors, and Tesla, while most automakers offered limited responses as Volkswagen and BMW said they would review and Subaru denied using recycled African lead.
- Trading firms, including Trafigura, shipped recycled lead from True Metals and six other Nigerian smelters to U.S. companies in recent years, with Trafigura stating it follows regulations and conducts monitored assessments.
- Audits were often announced in advance and had limited impact, companies declined certified-safe-only sourcing proposals, and a cleaner operator, Green Recycling, shut down after being outbid by cheaper, more polluting competitors.