Human mercury exposure associated with small-scale gold mining in Burkina Faso

Tomicic, Catherine; Vernez, David; Belem, Tounaba; Berode, M.

doi:10.1007/s00420-011-0615-x

Cited by 58 publications

(49 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…This detailed article summarized the results from 26 studies, showing that the exposure to inorganic Hg vapor is high, and that toxic effects have to be considered. Some relevant papers in different countries with ASGM showed that Hg levels in any analyzed biomarker were higher compared to control groups or reference values, and in some studies clinical symptoms or negative results for subclinical parameters were identified [7,8,13,14,26,28,29,31,32,[53][54][55][56][57][58][59][60]. These results are very similar to our results.…”

Section: Literaturesupporting

confidence: 90%

Signs and symptoms of mercury-exposed gold miners

Blüml

Bernaudat

Siebert

et al. 2017

Int J Occup Med Environ Health

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Section: Literaturesupporting

confidence: 90%

Signs and symptoms of mercury-exposed gold miners

Blüml

Bernaudat

Siebert

et al. 2017

Int J Occup Med Environ Health

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“…Often the mercury fumes are not processed appropriately and are discharged into the environment where they can be inhaled by individuals and cause toxicity. 1 Our patient did not process the mercury with heat. He had a large spill that was improperly cleaned up.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mercury Exposure Through Gold Extraction: Varied Signs and Symptoms of Toxicity

Durrani¹,

Tsutaoka²,

Moeller³

et al. 2016

Toxicol Forensic Med Open J

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A 48-year-old male called the poison control center noting his "skin is starting to peel off". He stated ten days prior, a container fell from a shelf and spilled approximately 100 milliliters of elemental mercury used for gold extraction. Because it was felt there was a still valuable amount of gold in the mercury, he explored the silvery material for any recoverable specs of gold. Once complete, he used a vacuum to remove the mercury, and swept the remainder under a rug. He noted it was a cold January day, and turned the heat on, also noting there was no exhaust ventilation in this room. He felt he might be coming down with influenza-like-illness (ILI), and spent the next week in bed (in this same room).The patient was referred to the local emergency department (ED), and instructed to notify the county hazardous materials agency of the spill. In the ED, his vital signs were within normal limits. He was noted to have a desquamating rash of his upper and lower extremities, with mild erythema (Figures 1 and 2). He complained of numbness of his fingers and lower extremities. Laboratory tests including a complete metabolic panel and complete blood count were within normal limits. An electrocardiogram and chest x-ray was normal. A whole blood mercury test and spot urine mercury test were obtained and returned (one week later) with values of 262 mcg/L (reference range; <10 mcg/L) and 144 mcg/g creatinine (reference range; non-exposed adult <4 mcg/g creatinine) respectively. The patient was referred to the Occupational and Environmental Clinic, where he was seen four weeks after the initial event. His county public health agency was notified of the event. He denied any tremor, but noted recent personality changes including depression and decreased interest in social interaction. He noted his rash had resolved, but he continued to have a sensory neuropathy, complaining of worsening balance, dizziness, cold sensitivity and numbness of his arms and legs. These neurologic symptoms limited his occupational and recreational activities, including woodworking, playing a musical instrument and dancing. He noted he had relocated from the location of the mercury spill. A repeat whole blood mercury level returned at 13 mcg/L and a twenty-four hour urine collection returned at 44 mcg/L (reference range; <20 mcg/L). Formal neurologic testing was offered, but due to the patient's lack of health insurance, he was unable to complete this testing. He was lost to follow-up following his clinic visit. The county department of public health was informed about a potential mercury spill at the residence but they were unable to make contact with the patient and the residence was not evaluated.

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“…A Likert scale was developed for questionnaire responses on mercury-related health effects based on the literature (see World Health Organization (WHO), 2007; Steckling et al, 2011;Tomicic et al, 2011). The researchers ensured that acquiescence and habituation response bias (see Holbrook, 2008) were minimized.…”

Section: Dependent Variablementioning

confidence: 99%

Unsafe Occupational Health Behaviors: Understanding Mercury-Related Environmental Health Risks to Artisanal Gold Miners in Ghana

Armah

Boamah

Quansah

et al. 2016

Front. Environ. Sci.

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without any previous occupational health problems (OR = 4.86, p < 0.0001). Although artisanal gold miners who are 25-34 years old were more likely to know than their counterparts who are 18-24 years old, there were no differences in knowledge between those who are 35 years or older and their counterparts who are 18-24 years old. These results emphasize the complex relationships between compositional, contextual and occupational factors on the one hand, and artisanal gold miners' knowledge of environmental and health effects of Hg, on the other hand. Some policy implications of the findings suggest that a more systematic approach to the development and evaluation of interventions to phase out Hg use in artisanal gold mining is desirable, with clearer recognition of the interrelationships between compositional factors of artisanal gold miners and their persistent reliance on Hg in the gold extraction process.

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Human mercury exposure associated with small-scale gold mining in Burkina Faso

Cited by 58 publications

References 19 publications

Signs and symptoms of mercury-exposed gold miners

Signs and symptoms of mercury-exposed gold miners

Mercury Exposure Through Gold Extraction: Varied Signs and Symptoms of Toxicity

Unsafe Occupational Health Behaviors: Understanding Mercury-Related Environmental Health Risks to Artisanal Gold Miners in Ghana

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