ArticleInternational journal of environmental research and public health2021
Economic Impacts on Human Health Resulting from the Use of Mercury in the Illegal Gold Mining in the Brazilian Amazon: A Methodological Assessment.
Article in International journal of environmental research and public health, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers.
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7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Nutritional Profile of Children, Adolescents, and Women Living in Areas Potentially Affected by Heavy Metal Pollutants from the Revuè River in the Manica Province, Mozambique.Epidemiologia (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Article
- Mercury in southern legal Amazonia: evaluating Prochilodus nigricans (Agassiz, 1829) as a bioindicator species and the risk of its consumption.Environmental monitoring and assessment · 2026Article
- Article
- Mining and malaria in the Brazilian Amazon and in the Yanomami indigenous land.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2025Article
- Preliminary profile of the gut microbiota from amerindians in the Brazilian amazon experiencing a process of transition to urbanization.Brazilian journal of microbiology : [publication of the Brazilian Society for Microbiology] · 2024Article
- Trace element accumulation in different edible fish species from the Bolivian Amazon and the risk for human consumption.Heliyon · 2022Article
- Article
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Abstract
Artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in the Amazon results in the dumping of tons of mercury into the environment annually. Despite consensus on the impacts of mercury on human health, there are still unknowns regarding: (i) the extent to which mercury from ASGM can be dispersed in the environment until it becomes toxic to humans; and (ii) the economic value of losses caused by contamination becomes evident. The main objective of this study is to propose a methodology to evaluate the impacts of ASGM on human health in different contexts in the Brazilian Amazon. We connect several points in the literature based on hypotheses regarding mercury dispersion in water, its transformation into methylmercury, and absorption by fish and humans. This methodology can be used as a tool to estimate the extent of environmental damage caused by artisanal gold mining, the severity of damage to the health of individuals contaminated by mercury and, consequently, can contribute to the application of fines to environmental violators. The consequences of contamination are evaluated by dose-response functions relating to mercury concentrations in hair and the development of the following health outcomes: (i) mild mental retardation, (ii) acute myocardial infarction, and (iii) hypertension. From disability-adjusted life years and statistical life value, we found that the economic losses range from 100,000 to 400,000 USD per kilogram of gold extracted. A case study of the Yanomami indigenous land shows that the impacts of mercury from illegal gold mining in 2020 totaled 69 million USD, which could be used by local authorities to compensate the Yanomami people.
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