Ecobreves – VENEZUELA: New Evidence of Mercury Contamination

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

CARACAS, Aug 15 2005 (IPS) - A study of 209 artisanal miners and their families in El Callao, a town in southeast Venezuela along the Yuruari River, a source of gold and diamonds, found that 105 of them had toxic levels of mercury from inhaling the vapors of the heavy metal. Those affected showed signs of uncoordinated movement, diarrhea, vomiting and difficulty speaking.

An estimated 12 tons of mercury is spread throughout the water, air and soil in the area each year, and across the entire southeast, in the Yuruari and Caroní river basins, some 60 tons. Mercury is used in separating out gold from ore.

“Fish, plants and humans are contaminated. With the deforestation, there is more sediment in the rivers,” María Eugenia Gil, of the environmental group Aguaclara, told Tierramérica.

“But despite the evidence, the government opened up a new territory, the Sierra de Imataca forest reserve, in the far east, where several thousands more miners will go to work, and (there will be) giant loads of mercury,” she added.