Gold mining with mercury poses health threats for miles downstream

Small-scale gold mining in the Peruvian Amazon poses a health hazard not only to the miners and communities near where mercury is used to extract gold from ore, but also to downstream communities hundreds of kilometers away where people eat mercury-contaminated river fish as part of their diet. Downstream children under 12 with the highest levels of mercury in their bodies were found to have lost IQ points and become anemic.

from Health & Medicine News -- ScienceDaily https://ift.tt/2MekzHD