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Today has gathered that scores of residents in mining communities are suffering from diseases including tuberculosis (TB) silicosis, hyper pigmentation and black foot. These mining communities, the paper discovered, include Tarkwa Nsuaem Municipality and Prestea Huni Valley in the Western region; Saamang and Osino in the Eastern region; Obuasi-Ashanti region; Dormaa, Kenyase�Brong Ahafo region, and; Talensi Nabdam in the Upper East region. Information from medical officers in both public and private hospitals in the above-mentioned communities acknowledged the prevalence of these diseases, saying that these infectious diseases were contracted by the residents as a result of drinking from contaminated water bodies and inhaling of dust and smoke-polluted air. Today�s findings further revealed that communities which are hard-hit by these diseases included Berekum, Mim, Goaso, Dumasi, Kenyase, Hwidiem, Subi, Bonsambepo, Ayum, Dormaa Akwamu, Asuotiano, Wamanafo, Kyeremasu, Subikrom, Kobedi and Asopra all in the Brong-Ahafo region. Today learnt that mining communities including Gbane in the Talensi Nabdam District of the Upper East region; Kubi, Tano Suraw and Ajenua in the Eastern region were also faced with the same problem. Other mining communities which have also been hit by these diseases are Tarkwa, Banso, Teberebo, Prestea, Dumasi, Ayensukrom, Samabiu, Bogoso, Bompreso, New Atuabo, Atta ne Atta, Huniso and Atwereboada in the Western region. This worrying development, Today found out, happened on the blind side of the country�s health and mining regulatory agencies. And these institutions include the Ministry of Health, Ghana Health Service (GHS,) Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources, Ministry of Science, Environment and Technology, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and Minerals Commission and Water Resources Commission. These state institutions with regulatory and monitoring responsibilities over mining companies, Today established, lacked capacity to hold multinational mining companies accountable for their environmental stewardship as required by the Mineral and Mining Act, 2006 (Act 703). Interestingly, this paper gathered that the residents through their chiefs and civil society groups like Wacam, Centre for Environmental Impact Analysis (CEIA) and Centre for Public Interest Law (CPIL) have been drawing President John Dramani Mahama�s attention to these infectious diseases. They could not understand why the president was yet to employ measures to address this frightening situation. At a two-day workshop held for media personnel on human rights violation in mining communities in Tema recently, residents in Tarkwa, Dumasi, Kenyasi and Prestea complained bitterly that they were suffocating in highly polluted environments, as a result of the total disregard of best environmental practices on the part of mining companies operating in their communities. According to them, mining companies in their communities had turned their springs, streams and rivers into �toxic chemical soups,� full of heavy metals such as arsenic, cadmium and lead, due to frequent chemical spillages and the dumping of waste rocks in their water bodies. Aside from water pollution, the residents noted that fresh clean air was gradually becoming a luxury in mining communities. The residents stated that they do not only drink toxic chemical soup, but also breathe in more toxic particles from dust and smoke emissions than oxygen. Speaker-after-speaker asserted that these dust particles originate from various sources such as ore crushing, conveyance of crushed ore, loading bins, blasting, mine and motor vehicle traffic, use of hauling roads, waste rock piles, windblown tailings, and disturbed areas. They pointed out that dust can contain toxic heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, and others, adding that �these toxic heavy metals, when incorporated with dust, contaminate the air, posing health risks to them.� To this end, they called on Parliament and other stakeholders to critically look at submissions made by mining communities on the Mineral and Mining Act, Act 703 of 2006.