Mercury contamination in the blood, urine, hair and nails of the gold washers and its human health risk during extraction of placer gold along Gilgit, Hunza and Indus rivers in Gilgit-Baltistan, Pakistan

Mercury Exposure and Its Health Effects in Workers in the Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining (ASGM) Sector—A Systematic Review

“…The subsequent evaluation of the remaining 103 full-texts resulted in the exclusion of 84 articles due to their failure to fulfil the following eligibility criteria: study population ( n = 55), outcome ( n = 16), exposure ( n = 6), study design ( n = 4), language ( n = 2) or context ( n = 1). Eventually, 19 publications were included in this systematic review [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ] ( Figure 1 ).…”

“…The selected articles included 18 cross-sectional studies [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ] and 1 case series [ 48 ], whose publication years ranged from 1993 to 2020 [ 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 ]. The following geographical regions were covered: Africa: Ghana [ 43 , 44 , 51 , 52 ], Tanzania [ 45 , 53 ], Zimbabwe [ 46 , 54 ], Sudan [ 55 ], Burkina Faso [ 56 ], Uganda [ 57 ].…”

“…The included studies also differed in terms of data collection and diagnostic procedures [43][44][45][46][47][48][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. The data were mainly collected through measurements of defined parameters [43][44][45][46][47][48][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63], surveys [43][44][45][46][47][48][51][52][53][56][57][58]…”

“…The selected articles included 18 cross-sectional studies [43][44][45][46][47][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63] and 1 case series [48], whose publication years ranged from 1993 to 2020 [43][44][45][46][47][48][51][52][53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60][61][62][63]. The following geographical regions were covered:…”

Drivers of Change to Mountain Sustainability in the Hindu Kush Himalaya

“…Uncontrolled mining operations also can have detrimental effects on fragile mountain environments, sometimes resulting in large-scale degradation of landscapes and economic crises of sustainability. The impacts of mining on the natural environment and socioeconomic conditions have been studied and documented by several researchers in the region (Huang et al 2009;IUCN Pakistan 2009;Riaz et al 2015). Uncontrolled mining practices such as blasting with dynamite have led to vegetation loss, soil erosion, and disturbance to wildlife in Pakistan (Donnelly 2004;Wu et al 2014a).…”