Signs and Symptoms of Mercury-Exposed Gold Miners

Objectives: Gold miners use mercury to extract gold from ore adding liquid mercury to the milled gold-containing ore. This results in a mercury-gold compound, called amalgam. Miners smelt this amalgam to obtain gold, vaporizing it and finally inhaling the toxic mercury fumes. The objective was to merge and analyze data from different projects, to identify typical signs and symptoms of chronic inorganic mercury exposure. Material and Methods: Miners and community members from various artisanal small-scale gold mining areas had been examined (Philippines, Mongolia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Indonesia). Data of several health assessments were pooled. Urine, blood and hair samples were analyzed for mercury (N = 1252). Questionnaires, standardized medical examinations and neuropsychological tests were used. Participants were grouped into: Controls (N = 209), living in an exposed area (N = 408), working with mercury as panners (N = 181), working with mercury as amalgam burners (N = 454). Ch(i)2 test, linear trend test, Mann-Whitney test, Kruskal-Wallis test, correlation coefficient, Spearman's rho, and analysis of variance tests were used. An algorithm was used to define participants with chronic mercury intoxication. Results: Mean mercury concentrations in all exposed subgroups were elevated and above threshold limits, with amalgam burners showing highest levels. Typical symptoms of chronic metallic mercury intoxication were tremor, ataxia, coordination problems, excessive salivation and metallic taste. Participants from the exposed groups showed poorer results in different neuropsychological tests in comparison to the control group. Fifty-four percent of the high-exposed group (amalgam burners) were diagnosed as being mercury-intoxicated, compared to 0% within the control group (Chi(2) p < 0.001). Conclusions: Chronic mercury intoxication, with tremor, ataxia and other neurological symptoms together with a raised body burden of mercury was clinically diagnosed in exposed people in artisanal small-scale mining areas. The mercury exposure needs to be urgently reduced. Health care systems need to be prepared for this emerging problem of chronic mercury intoxication among exposed people

Water in the Green Economy: Capacity Development Aspects

This book discusses needs related to capacity development for water resources management, including water supply and sanitation, in the context of the green economy. It showcases theoretical and practical approaches with proven success. Most contributions come from members and partners within the interagency mechanism, UN-Water. The 11 case studies in this book range from innovative design and delivery of capacity development programs related to water in the green economy, market mechanisms, and quality control procedures supporting capacity development success towards the practical implementation of programs to enhance individual and institutional capacity

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

Steckling N, Bose-O'Reilly S, Pinheiro P, et al. The burden of chronic mercury intoxication in artisanal small-scale gold mining in Zimbabwe: data availability and preliminary estimates. Environmental Health. 2014;13(1): 111.Artisanal 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. Methods Cases 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. Results Miners 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. Conclusions This 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

Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) Case Studies in Honduras –an Integrated UNIDO Project

This article describes the outline and main first results of the UNIDO TEST (Transfer of Proven Practices for Environmentally Sound Technologies) program, which uses Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) for setting the baseline for calculating savings achieved by the Cleaner Production approach. The project focuses on the Rio Blanco basin in North Western Honduras and applies an integrated approach for improving industrial water management, pollution reduction and productivity

Use of particle bound Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHS) diagnostic ratios to assess pollution sources : universal or local application?

Particulate Matter (PM) influences both global climate and public health. For this reason, regulators have set stringent standards for ambient PM concentration. Often, these standards are difficult to meet in large urban centres. As a result, considerable effort is being put into the identification of the sources of atmospheric particles to tackle the problem at its origin. Most anthropogenic PM is emitted from combustion sources. Among other compounds, these combustion processes produce a range of particle bound polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs); the relative concentrations of these compounds may be characteristic of the source, fuel and combustion conditions. This is particularly the case for diesel engines, one of the major sources of PM in urban locations. In this project, 40 samples were collected in Sydney and an additional 20 samples were received from Hanoi, Vietnam. After soxhlet-extraction in an organic solvent, the extracts were concentrated and analysed by GC/MS using internal deuterated standards to quantify 16 PAHs. The different diesel-specific diagnostic ratios used in the literature were calculated. In order to assess the validity of these ratios, the PAHs concentrations of a previous Environment Australia study on emissions from diesel vehicles in Sydney were used to calculated the same ratios. It was found that some of the ratios previously used to characterise diesel emissions were more applicable than others to Sydney’s specific fuel and fleet conditions. In Sydney, it was possible to relate diesel emissions to specific atmospheric conditions. For Vietnam, however, the conclusions were not as clear, as there was no locally available information on PAHs from diesel emissions.6 page(s

Environmental Management Accounting (EMA) Case Studies in Honduras – an Integrated UNIDO Project

This article describes the outline and main first results of the UNIDO TEST (Transfer ofProven Practices for Environmentally Sound Technologies) program, which uses EnvironmentalManagement Accounting (EMA) for setting the baseline for calculating savingsachieved by the Cleaner Production approach. The project focuses on the Rio Blanco basin inNorth Western Honduras and applies an integrated approach for improving industrial watermanagement, pollution reduction and productivity. Copyright © www.iiste.or

Controlling emissions of persistent organic pollutants (POPs) from fossil fuel-fired utility and industrial boilers

6 page(s

Polymorphisms in Genes Encoding Potential Mercury Transporters and Urine Mercury Concentrations in Populations Exposed to Mercury Vapor from Gold Mining.

Background: Elemental mercury (Hg0) is widely used in small-scale gold mining. Individuals working or living in mining areas have high urinary concentrations of Hg (U-Hg). Differences in genes encoding potential Hg-transporters may affect uptake and elimination of Hg. Objective: To identify single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in Hg-transporter genes that modify U-Hg. Methods: 1,017 men and women from Indonesia, the Philippines, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe were classified either as controls (no Hg exposure from gold mining) or as having low (living in a gold-mining area) or high exposure (working as gold miners). U-Hg was analyzed by cold-vapor atomic absorption spectrometry. Eighteen SNPs in eight Hg-transporter genes were analyzed. Results: U-Hg concentrations were higher among ABCC2/MRP2 rs1885301 A-allele carriers than among GG homozygotes in all populations, though differences were not statistically significant in most cases. MRP2 SNPs showed particularly strong associations with U-Hg in the subgroup with highest exposure (miners in Zimbabwe) where rs1885301 A-allele carriers had higher U-Hg than GG homozygotes (geometric mean (GM): 36.4 µg/g creatinine vs. 21.9; p=0.027), rs2273697 GG homozygotes had higher U-Hg than A-allele carriers (GM: 37.4 vs. 16.7; p=0.001), and rs717620 A-allele carriers had higher U-Hg than GG homozygotes (GM: 83 vs. 28; p=0.084). The SLC7A5/LAT1 rs33916661 GG genotype was associated with higher U-Hg in all populations (statistically significant for all Tanzanians combined). SNPs in SLC22A6/OAT1 (rs4149170) and SLC22A8/OAT3 (rs4149182) were associated with U-Hg mainly in the Tanzanian study groups. Conclusions: SNPs in putative Hg-transporter genes may influence U-Hg concentrations