A Silent Poison (b1)

There is a slow, silent poison creeping through the Amazon River Basin. It can be found in the water, in the food, in the air, and in the people who live there. Most of them do not even know it is there.

An illegal gold mining operation on the Madre De Dios River. (c) Krista Lee

Imagine with me for a moment a small Peruvian family. The Father, let’s call him William, works hard to provide for his growing family by mining gold in the Madre De Dios River. It is a small operation run by William and his brother. It is one of Peru’s many illegal gold mining operations. Though it is illegal no one has told him to stop and as there is no other work in the area William and his brother do what they must to feed their families. William dredges up rock and silt from the river bed and places it into large barrels. The gold is small and difficult to find so William pours mercury into the barrel and jumps in to work it through the rock with his feet. Amalgamation is a common practice used by the artisanal gold miners to extract gold because it is relatively inexpensive, effective, and it yields quick results. William has no idea that as he works the mercury through the rock the liquid metal is being absorbed into his body through his skin. The mercury quickly adheres to the small bits of gold and William removes any rocks that are covered in mercury. When he is finished he dumps the remaining rock back into the river. He does not consider how much mercury is lost in the river or where it goes. When enough gold is accumulated William makes the trek into town to visit the entable. At the entable William’s friend Jorge burns the mercury off of the gold and pays William for his find. As the mercury burns the air is filled with poisonous gas that pours out of the entable and into the city. Jorge has no idea that the heart issues he has been experiencing could be caused by mercury poisoning.

I photographed this family riding up the Madre De Dios River in Peru. They are of no relation to the family 

in my story but are meant to be a visual representation of my hypothetical family. (c) Krista Lee

  

William’s wife Paola is back in the small mining village where they live. She cooks fish for her family’s dinner several times a week. Fish is a staple food among people of the Amazon River Basin. These fish flourish in the river where William dumps his mercury. Mercury is not metabolized but accumulates in the body. The mercury levels in the fish of that area are abnormally high. Paola wipes her sweaty brow and places a hand on her growing belly. She is seven months pregnant and gets tired easily. She is completely unaware that her baby is suffering from severe disabilities, the likely effects of her high mercury diet. She calls her daughter in for dinner. She has been playing outside near the river all day. Her young daughter has been excessively moody and has had a rash that has been getting worse. Paola does not even consider that these symptoms may be due to exposure to mercury.

A mining village along the Madre De Dios River in Peru. (c) Krista Lee

The effects of the high levels of mercury in the river go beyond those who work and live there. The poison is exported in the fish and other animals that find sustenance in the river and the mining itself has devastating effects on the forest. Since it is slow and difficult to diagnose, mercury poisoning is not a topic that makes for sexy headlines but it is a topic that needs addressed. There is not an easy answer to this problem and any change will likely be met with resistance. The biggest issue is that most people who are affected by mercury poisoning know very little about the dangers of mercury. Education is the key to the solution and so that is where we must begin.