Brazil's Munduruku tribe haunted by mercury's deadly threat
August 20, 2021
7:25 AM CDT
Last Updated 2 days ago
By Jimin Kang
5 minute read
Aug 20 (Reuters) - By the time 38-year-old Irene Munduruku was rushed to a hospital in northern Brazil last year, she could not move her arms and legs. Her husband Jairo Munduruku recalls she was unable to speak or open her eyes.
Doctors told Jairo his wife had tumors in her liver and right lung, but he doubted that cancer was the only cause for her illness.
Recent testing showed Irene's blood with one of the highest levels of mercury in their village of Sawré Aboy, by the banks of the Tapajós river in the Amazon rainforest. He suspected illegal gold mining had something to do with her illness.
Wildcat gold mining has expanded fast in Brazil, where the relaxing of environmental controls under far-right President Jair Bolsonaro has emboldened thousands of miners to invade constitutionally protected indigenous lands since 2019.
Brazil's National Mining Agency estimated that year that wildcat gold miners were extracting some 30 tonnes of gold annually from the Tapajós watershed alone, using the toxic heavy metal mercury to separate gold from sediment.
More:
https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/brazils-munduruku-tribe-haunted-by-mercurys-deadly-threat-2021-08-20/