The Mt. Diwata study on the Philippines 1999 — assessing mercury intoxication of the population by small scale gold mining

Drasch, G.; Blüml, Stephan; Beinhoff, Christian; Roider, Gabriele; Maydl, Stefan

doi:10.1016/s0048-9697(00)00806-8

Cited by 153 publications

(136 citation statements)

References 10 publications

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“…evaluation of the influence of mercury on the health of people living in the Diwalwal mining centre and the villages of Naboc, Tubo-Tubo, Babag and Mamonga (Figure 1; Böse-O'Reilly et al, 2000, Drasch et al, 2001. The objective of this paper is to provide a link between earlier regional studies (Appleton et al, 1999) and the detailed health studies (Drasch et al, 2001), which showed that 38% of the local inhabitants were classified as Hg intoxicated.…”

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confidence: 83%

“…The objective of this paper is to provide a link between earlier regional studies (Appleton et al, 1999) and the detailed health studies (Drasch et al, 2001), which showed that 38% of the local inhabitants were classified as Hg intoxicated. Because consumption of contaminated rice and fish is the primary route of potential exposure to heavy metals, this paper concentrates on mercury in soil, crops, and aquatic biota and assesses the potential hazard to the local people caused by Hg, Cd, and Pb in locally produced food sources.…”

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confidence: 93%

“…This will significantly contribute to the population mercury exposure and might explain why 38% of the local inhabitants were classified as Hg intoxicated during a mercury toxicity assessment (Drasch et al, 2001). …”

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confidence: 99%

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Impacts of mercury contaminated mining waste on soil quality, crops, bivalves, and fish in the Naboc River area, Mindanao, Philippines

Appleton

Weeks

Calvez³

et al. 2006

Science of The Total Environment

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Rice paddy fields in the Naboc area, near Monkayo on the island of Mindanao, Philippines, have been irrigated four times a year over the last decade using Naboc River water contaminated with kg of fish (220 µg MeHg) and 100g of mussels (50 µg MeHg) from the Naboc River, would total 285 µg MeHg (equivalent to 4.75 µg/kg bw for a 60 kg adult), which is nearly three times the JECFA PTWI of 1.6 µg/kg bw. This will significantly contribute to the population mercury exposure and might explain why 38% of the local inhabitants were classified as Hg intoxicated during a mercury toxicity assessment (Drasch et al., 2001).

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confidence: 93%

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Impacts of mercury contaminated mining waste on soil quality, crops, bivalves, and fish in the Naboc River area, Mindanao, Philippines

Appleton

Weeks

Calvez³

et al. 2006

Science of The Total Environment

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“…Previous research found elevated mercury exposure among residents of artisanal mining communities throughout Asia [6,7], Africa [8,9], and South America [10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. The Peruvian Amazon is a growing hotbed for artisanal mining, and there is growing concern over the extensive environmental mercury contamination that is occurring here [18][19][20].…”

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confidence: 99%

Mercury Exposure Among Artisanal Gold Miners in Madre de Dios, Peru: A Cross-sectional Study

et al. 2012

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Introduction Exposure to mercury, a toxic metal, occurs primarily from inhaling mercury vapors or consuming methylmercury-contaminated fish. One third of all anthropogenic mercury emissions worldwide are from artisanal gold mining, which uses mercury to extract gold. Although recent reports suggest that the Madre de Dios region in Peru (with >30,000 artisanal miners) has extensive mercury contamination, residents had never been assessed for mercury exposure. Thus, our objective was to quantify mercury exposure among residents of an artisanal mining town in Madre de Dios and to assess risk factors for exposure. Methods We conducted a cross-sectional assessment of 103 residents of an artisanal gold mining town in July 2010. Each participant provided a urine and blood sample and completed a questionnaire assessing potential exposures and health outcomes. We calculated geometric mean (GM) urine total mercury and blood methylmercury concentrations and compared log-transformed concentrations between subgroups using linear regression.Results One third (34.0 %) of participants were gold miners. All participants had detectable urine total mercury (GM, 5.5 μg/g creatinine; range, 0.7-151 μg/g creatinine) and 91 % had detectable blood methylmercury (GM, 2.7 μg/L; range, 0.6-10 μg/L); 13 participants (13 %) reported having kidney dysfunction or a neurological disorder. Urine total mercury concentrations were higher among people who heated gold-mercury amalgams compared with people who never heated amalgams (p<0.05); methylmercury concentrations were higher among fish consumers compared with nonfish consumers (p<0.05). Conclusion Our findings suggest that mercury exposure may be widespread in Huaypetue.

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“…The percentage of cases diagnosed with Hg intoxication within the amalgam burners was lower in Rwamagasa than in the comparable small-scale gold mining area of Mt. Diwata in the Philippines, for example, where 85% of the amalgam burners were intoxicated (Drasch 2001 Child labour in the Rwamagasa mining sites is very common from the age of 10. The children work and play with their bare hands with Hg.…”

Section: Results Of the Medical Investigationmentioning

confidence: 83%

The GEF/UNDP/UNIDO Global Mercury Project — Environmental and Health Results from a Small-Scale Gold Mining Site in Tanzania

Appleton

Drasch

O’Reilly

et al. 2005

Dynamics of Mercury Pollution on Regional and Global Scales:

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The Mt. Diwata study on the Philippines 1999 — assessing mercury intoxication of the population by small scale gold mining

Cited by 153 publications

References 10 publications

Impacts of mercury contaminated mining waste on soil quality, crops, bivalves, and fish in the Naboc River area, Mindanao, Philippines

Impacts of mercury contaminated mining waste on soil quality, crops, bivalves, and fish in the Naboc River area, Mindanao, Philippines

Mercury Exposure Among Artisanal Gold Miners in Madre de Dios, Peru: A Cross-sectional Study

The GEF/UNDP/UNIDO Global Mercury Project — Environmental and Health Results from a Small-Scale Gold Mining Site in Tanzania

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