Photo Via Fiocruz Amazônia
Via PLANT Partners for the Land & Agricultural Needs of Traditional Peoples:
Research recently carried out by the Brazilian Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) and the Socio-Environmental Institute (ISA) in 19 Yanomani and Ye’wana villages, has revealed that up to 92% of indigenous peoples living close to mining areas suffer from mercury contamination.
The cause of the contamination is the continuous gold mining taking place illegally inside indigenous reservations. Mercury pollution has made its way into the amazonian eco-system and is poisoning the food chain of these isolated peoples. The toxic legacy of mercury can continue for thousands of years.
The full scientific report will be published shortly.
Meanwhile, you may want to check out the two links below.
The first one is from the Fiocruz website and the second one is a shorter article from the Amazonian newspaper, ACritica.
PLANT will share the English version of the detailed report as soon as it becomes available.