Environmental and Occupational Exposures to Mercury Among Indigenous People in Dunkwa-On-Offin, a Small Scale Gold Mining Area in The South-West of Ghana

Kwaansa-Ansah, Edward Ebow; Basu, Niladri; Nriagu, Jerome O.

doi:10.1007/s00128-010-0141-7

Cited by 31 publications

(22 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Both from large‐scale industrial ore mining (Byrne et al 2012) and local artisanal small‐scale mining (Ashe 2012; Angosto‐Fernández 2019), it is another major source of pollution in IP lands. Mineral extraction activities affect IPs who are participants or workers at mines (Kwaansa‐Ansah et al 2010; Basu et al 2018), as well as in wider areas downstream from operations affected by tailings disposal, impacting indigenous water supplies (Shaw and Welford 2007; Daigle 2018). For example, the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea dumped 1 billion metric tons of tailings in local rivers used by the Yonggom (Kirsch 2007), and the Grassberg mine in Indonesian Papua has also resulted in substantial impacts upon the water resources used by the Amungme and the Kamoro peoples (Rifai‐Hasan 2009).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A State‐of‐the‐Art Review of Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Pollution

Fernández‐Llamazares

Garteizgogeascoa

Basu

et al. 2020

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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Indigenous peoples (IPs) worldwide are confronted by the increasing threat of pollution. Based on a comprehensive review of the literature (n = 686 studies), we present the current state of knowledge on: 1) the exposure and vulnerability of IPs to pollution; 2) the environmental, health, and cultural impacts of pollution upon IPs; and 3) IPs' contributions to prevent, control, limit, and abate pollution from local to global scales. Indigenous peoples experience large burdens of environmental pollution linked to the expansion of commodity frontiers and industrial development, including agricultural, mining, and extractive industries, as well as urban growth, waste dumping, and infrastructure and energy development. Nevertheless, IPs are contributing to limit pollution in different ways, including through environmental monitoring and global policy advocacy, as well as through local resistance toward polluting activities. This work adds to growing evidence of the breadth and depth of environmental injustices faced by IPs worldwide, and we conclude by highlighting the need to increase IPs' engagement in environmental decision-making regarding pollution control. Integr Environ Assess Manag 2020;16:324-341.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

A State‐of‐the‐Art Review of Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Pollution

Fernández‐Llamazares

Garteizgogeascoa

Basu

et al. 2020

Integr Envir Assess & Manag

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“…Another study in Zimbabwe reported high blood-mercury concentrations, defined as >0.05 mg/l (corresponding to 50 μg/l) in 17% of a sample of 66 adult miners [ 96 ]. Miner cohorts in South West Ghana (mean of 1 μg Hg/l urine) [ 99 ], Peru (mean/median of 9 μg Hg/g creatinine) [ 100 ], Suriname (mean of 30 μg Hg/g creatinine) [ 101 ], Thailand (mean of >35 μg Hg/g creatinine) [ 102 ], and northern Tanzania (mean of nearly 40 μg Hg/g creatinine) [ 103 ] showed lower biomonitoring concentrations in miners compared to the results of this study, while higher median urine mercury concentrations (44 μg/l) were reported for amalgam smelting miners in the Upper East Region in Ghana [ 104 ]. In Venezuela and Burkina Faso the average urine mercury concentrations reached nearly 105 μg/g creatinine [ 22 ] resp.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The burden of chronic mercury intoxication in artisanal small-scale gold mining in Zimbabwe: data availability and preliminary estimates

et al. 2014

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BackgroundArtisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) is a poverty-driven activity practiced in over 70 countries worldwide. Zimbabwe is amongst the top ten countries using large quantities of mercury to extract gold from ore. This analysis was performed to check data availability and derive a preliminary estimate of disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) due to mercury use in ASGM in Zimbabwe.MethodsCases of chronic mercury intoxication were identified following an algorithm using mercury-related health effects and mercury in human specimens. The sample prevalence amongst miners and controls (surveyed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization in 2004 and the University of Munich in 2006) was determined and extrapolated to the entire population of Zimbabwe. Further epidemiological and demographic data were taken from the literature and missing data modeled with DisMod II to quantify DALYs using the methods from the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) 2004 update published by the World Health Organization (WHO). While there was no disability weight (DW) available indicating the relative disease severity of chronic mercury intoxication, the DW of a comparable disease was assigned by following the criteria 1) chronic condition, 2) triggered by a substance, and 3) causing similar health symptoms.ResultsMiners showed a sample prevalence of 72% while controls showed no cases of chronic mercury intoxication. Data availability is very limited why it was necessary to model data and make assumptions about the number of exposed population, the definition of chronic mercury intoxication, DW, and epidemiology. If these assumptions hold, the extrapolation would result in around 95,400 DALYs in Zimbabwe’s total population in 2004.ConclusionsThis analysis provides a preliminary quantification of the mercury-related health burden from ASGM based on the limited data available. If the determined assumptions hold, chronic mercury intoxication is likely to have been one of the top 20 hazards for population health in Zimbabwe in 2004 when comparing with more than 130 categories of diseases and injuries quantified in the WHO’s GBD 2004 update. Improving data quality would allow more accurate estimates. However, the results highlight the need to reduce a burden which could be entirely avoided.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/1476-069X-13-111) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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“…Mercury exposure in mining communities has been well established in the literature in places such as Brazil, Indonesia, Zimbabwe, and Ghana (Global Mercury Project 2006; Kwaansa-Ansah et al 2010), but much less is known about other toxic chemicals, such as lead. Findings from this investigation should be included into existing global initiatives to address other heavy metals in addition to mercury.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Outbreak of Fatal Childhood Lead Poisoning Related to Artisanal Gold Mining in Northwestern Nigeria, 2010

Dooyema

Neri²,

Lo³

et al. 2012

Environ Health Perspect

204

136

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Background: In May 2010, a team of national and international organizations was assembled to investigate children’s deaths due to lead poisoning in villages in northwestern Nigeria.Objectives: Our goal was to determine the cause of the childhood lead poisoning outbreak, investigate risk factors for child mortality, and identify children < 5 years of age in need of emergency chelation therapy for lead poisoning.Methods: We administered a cross-sectional, door-to-door questionnaire in two affected villages, collected blood from children 2–59 months of age, and obtained soil samples from family compounds. Descriptive and bivariate analyses were performed with survey, blood lead, and environmental data. Multivariate logistic regression techniques were used to determine risk factors for childhood mortality.Results: We surveyed 119 family compounds. Of 463 children < 5 years of age, 118 (25%) had died in the previous year. We tested 59% (204/345) of children < 5 years of age, and all were lead poisoned (≥ 10 µg/dL); 97% (198/204) of children had blood lead levels (BLLs) ≥ 45 µg/dL, the threshold for initiating chelation therapy. Gold ore was processed inside two-thirds of the family compounds surveyed. In multivariate modeling, significant risk factors for death in the previous year from suspected lead poisoning included the age of the child, the mother’s work at ore-processing activities, community well as primary water source, and the soil lead concentration in the compound.Conclusion: The high levels of environmental contamination, percentage of children < 5 years of age with elevated BLLs (97%, > 45 µg/dL), and incidence of convulsions among children before death (82%) suggest that most of the recent childhood deaths in the two surveyed villages were caused by acute lead poisoning from gold ore–processing activities. Control measures included environmental remediation, chelation therapy, public health education, and control of mining activities.

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Environmental and Occupational Exposures to Mercury Among Indigenous People in Dunkwa-On-Offin, a Small Scale Gold Mining Area in The South-West of Ghana

Cited by 31 publications

References 9 publications

A State‐of‐the‐Art Review of Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Pollution

A State‐of‐the‐Art Review of Indigenous Peoples and Environmental Pollution

The burden of chronic mercury intoxication in artisanal small-scale gold mining in Zimbabwe: data availability and preliminary estimates

Outbreak of Fatal Childhood Lead Poisoning Related to Artisanal Gold Mining in Northwestern Nigeria, 2010

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