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Tribal women living deep in the Amazon are now afraid of becoming pregnant. The rivers, which are considered the lifeline of the communities living here, are now flowing poison instead of water. Due to illegal gold mining, mercury has now dissolved in the river water. Due to which the child growing in the stomach is in terrible danger.
the child’s muscles are cramped
Here, Alessandra Corap, a leader of the tribal community Munduruku, said with great disappointment, ‘Mother’s milk is no longer sacred’. Three-year-old Rainie Catlen, born in Sai Sinja, a Munduruku community surrounded by illegal mines, has become a victim of this poison. Her muscles have become so tight that she cannot even lift her head. Rainie is one of 36 people in the area, most of whom are children, who have such neurological disorders.
Even though I knew the danger…
However, scientists had already warned about the dangers posed by mercury to the children of indigenous people living in the Amazon. Rainie’s father, Rosilton Saw, works as a miner, following in the footsteps of his father Rosenildo. Sitting in the family’s one-bedroom wooden house, the elders say they knew the mercury used in mining was dangerous. His son Rosenildo Saw says that after mining 30 grams of gold every week, the earning is just enough to survive. The family regularly eats ‘surubim’, a carnivorous fish that deposits mercury in the Beom River.
Over the past few years, government health officials have reported dozens of other patients in the region suffering from similar disorders but there is a severe lack of testing and medical care facilities. Due to which it has become difficult to find out the exact reasons.
What have the researchers been up to?
Now researchers are gathering data on neurological problems linked to mercury poisoning, from brain deformities to memory problems, in a multi-year study scheduled to conclude in late 2026.
Mercury has contaminated river fish, which are a staple food for indigenous communities. It has accumulated to dangerous levels in women’s placenta, breasts and children. There is also a nurse from the same area, who says that despite the instructions from health officials, people cannot stop eating fish because if these people follow the rules, we will die of hunger.
Why was the situation beyond the control of the government?
Next month, not far from Sai Sinja, the UN climate summit, COP30, will be held in the Amazon, bringing together diplomats and world leaders. Brazilian organizers have named it ‘One COP’. It will draw the attention of global powers to issues threatening tropical rainforests and their inhabitants, such as illegal mining across the region.
Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has driven thousands of miners off indigenous lands since taking office in 2023, but the remaining mercury cannot be decomposed because it leaches into the air, water and soil.
The Brazilian government has increased monitoring of mercury levels in the area of the Munduruku indigenous people, trained public health officials to identify the early symptoms of mercury poisoning and invested in clean water sources for remote communities, the health ministry said in a statement.
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