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페루 남동부 아마존 강 유역 정글지대의 수은 오염이 심각하다는 연구결과가 나왔다.
미국 카네기연구소는 최근 연구에서 페루 남동부 마드레 데 디오스 주(州)의 주 도 푸에르토말도나도에 사는 성인의 78%가 위험 수준의 수은 수치를 기록했다고 21 일 밝혔다.
시장에서 팔리는 물고기의 60%에서도 위험 수준의 수은이 검출됐다.
연구를 주도한 스탠퍼드 대학의 루이스 페르난데스 교수는 11종의 어류에 대해 2009년과 2012년 수은 수치를 비교한 결과 10종에서 증가한 것으로 나타났다고 밝혔 다.
이 지역이 수은에 오염된 것은 아마존 강의 사금 채취에 수은이 사용되고 있기 때문이다.
4만여 명으로 추정되는 광부들은 강바닥을 훑어 나온 사금 조각들을 수은으로 흡착시켜 덩어리로 만든다.
이 때문에 이 지역에서 매년 35t의 수은이 대기와 수중으로 배출되고 있다고 연구소는 전했다.
<관련 영문 기사>
Study finds mounting mercury threat in Peru Amazon
A study of mercury contamination in a southeastern Peruvian jungle area ravaged by illegal gold mining found unsafe levels of the toxic metal in 78 percent of adults in the regional capital and in 60 percent of fish sold at markets.
The study by the Carnegie Institution for Science calls the contamination a ``grave and mounting threat to public health.‘’
Mercury is a byproduct of artisanal gold mining as practiced by the estimated 40,000 miners in the Madre de Dios region.
In discussing the overall human impact, the newly released study said that the population segment most vulnerable to mercury poisoning had the highest average mercury levels: women of childbearing age. As a neurotoxin, mercury can cause severe, permanent brain damage to an unborn child.
The study, led by Luis E. Fernandez of Stanford University, said mercury levels increased in 10 of 11 fish species studied in 2009 and then again in 2012.
Peru is the world‘s fifth largest gold producer, and the government has made scant progress trying to halt the illegal mining and formalize the miners.
Unlike formal mining that occurs in the Andean highlands, the mining in Madre de Dios consists chiefly of scouring riverbeds and alluvial deposits for flecks of gold that adhere to mercury in a crude amalgamation process.
About 35 metric tons of mercury is dispersed into the air and waters of the region annually, exposing not just miners to the metal but also city dwellers in Puerto Maldonado, the regional capital that is one of the urban areas where mercury vapor is released by ``gold shops’‘ that buy and refine gold.
In addition to the mercury contamination, the mining has denuded some 70 square miles (18,000 hectares) of formerly virgin rainforest in one of the world’s most biologically diverse regions. (AP)
미국 카네기연구소는 최근 연구에서 페루 남동부 마드레 데 디오스 주(州)의 주 도 푸에르토말도나도에 사는 성인의 78%가 위험 수준의 수은 수치를 기록했다고 21 일 밝혔다.
시장에서 팔리는 물고기의 60%에서도 위험 수준의 수은이 검출됐다.
연구를 주도한 스탠퍼드 대학의 루이스 페르난데스 교수는 11종의 어류에 대해 2009년과 2012년 수은 수치를 비교한 결과 10종에서 증가한 것으로 나타났다고 밝혔 다.
이 지역이 수은에 오염된 것은 아마존 강의 사금 채취에 수은이 사용되고 있기 때문이다.
4만여 명으로 추정되는 광부들은 강바닥을 훑어 나온 사금 조각들을 수은으로 흡착시켜 덩어리로 만든다.
이 때문에 이 지역에서 매년 35t의 수은이 대기와 수중으로 배출되고 있다고 연구소는 전했다.
<관련 영문 기사>
Study finds mounting mercury threat in Peru Amazon
A study of mercury contamination in a southeastern Peruvian jungle area ravaged by illegal gold mining found unsafe levels of the toxic metal in 78 percent of adults in the regional capital and in 60 percent of fish sold at markets.
The study by the Carnegie Institution for Science calls the contamination a ``grave and mounting threat to public health.‘’
Mercury is a byproduct of artisanal gold mining as practiced by the estimated 40,000 miners in the Madre de Dios region.
In discussing the overall human impact, the newly released study said that the population segment most vulnerable to mercury poisoning had the highest average mercury levels: women of childbearing age. As a neurotoxin, mercury can cause severe, permanent brain damage to an unborn child.
The study, led by Luis E. Fernandez of Stanford University, said mercury levels increased in 10 of 11 fish species studied in 2009 and then again in 2012.
Peru is the world‘s fifth largest gold producer, and the government has made scant progress trying to halt the illegal mining and formalize the miners.
Unlike formal mining that occurs in the Andean highlands, the mining in Madre de Dios consists chiefly of scouring riverbeds and alluvial deposits for flecks of gold that adhere to mercury in a crude amalgamation process.
About 35 metric tons of mercury is dispersed into the air and waters of the region annually, exposing not just miners to the metal but also city dwellers in Puerto Maldonado, the regional capital that is one of the urban areas where mercury vapor is released by ``gold shops’‘ that buy and refine gold.
In addition to the mercury contamination, the mining has denuded some 70 square miles (18,000 hectares) of formerly virgin rainforest in one of the world’s most biologically diverse regions. (AP)
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