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Death, abortion because of mercury poisoning
Dear Editor,
I urge the Hon Minister of Natural Resources to converse with the Hon Minister of Health before asserting that it will take ten years to implement a ban on mercury poisoning. The Chief Medical Officer was so concerned about mercury poisoning in Guyana, that he made it a point to educate almost two hundred doctors last year about mercury. Foetuses, infants and young children are those most vulnerable to mercury poisoning.
I will share my personal experiences. (Other health professionals will have their stories, and the Chief Medical Officer should have national data.)Last year, a distraught young professional had an abortion because she had chronic high mercury levels as a result of her work with GGMC, and knew the high risk of delivering an infant with severe developmental and neurological abnormalities.
She asserted that GGMC routinely checked her mercury levels, but no treatment was offered and no effective preventive measures were implemented. At the time, I assumed these assertions were coloured by her highly emotional state, since it is a basic principle to have the antidote to your poisons available.
The following month, the toddler of a city jeweller died, due to severe mercury poisoning. We had contacted the GGMC for the antidote in a desperate attempt to save this child. They stated that they had NO ANTIDOTE, not even for their staff!
We are fortunate to have a caring and humane government, who make a point of focusing on the marginalized, the vulnerable and the future of our nation. I know that Minister Persaud made this statement only because he did not know about these and other local cases of mercury poisoning. Therefore, I am confident that after he has done due diligence, as a caring person, he will immediately take the requisite decisive action and implement alternative, eco-friendly methods of gold mining. This would be in keeping with a government who places the health and well-being of the citizens of Guyana ahead of the acquisition of personal wealth for a few.
Dr. Vivienne Amata
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