Mercury contamination is a matter of urgency

Apr 01, 2018 AFC Column, Features / Columnists

A most distressing situation was discovered recently at one of Guyana’s leading agencies in the production sector. The nation learnt that the staffers of the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission (GGMC) were reporting symptoms of mercury poisoning. They all work in the compound that the GGMC shares with the Guyana Gold Board and the Ministry of Natural Resources, which are situated right next to the Ministry of Public Health.
For decades, the Gold Board’s testing and assayer’s laboratory has been located in that very same compound. Raw gold brought in for declaration by our relatively large brigade of miners/pork knockers, (Venezuelan, Brazilian, Indian, Chinese or Guyanese), is tested for purity, quality, malleability and ductility, among other things. The miners are then compensated for quantity and quality.
Located quite close to the lab, are several of the GGMC’s key departments including the mines administration, which is the hub of the Commission. Other nearby departments include Maintenance, Audit, Human Resources and the Legal Officers’ unit.
Perhaps in retrospect, successive Guyanese Governments and GGMC executives at both the Commission and the Board should have been switched on to the fact that prolonged exposure to mercury vapour is a recipe for serious illnesses, medical debilitation or fatality.
They should also have been guided by the findings of a recent World Wildlife Fund (WWF) study that was conducted within the Guianas – Guyana, Suriname and French Guiana. One of their findings stated that jewellers working in secure, tightly enclosed rooms presented higher levels of mercury in their bodies than miners who work in open camps in the ‘jungles’. That alone should have alerted us to the possibility that the people working in the Gold Board’s labs (at least) may have been exposed to this potentially debilitating metallic element.
So now we know, and now is the time for every authority to act quickly to mitigate the situation at the GGMC and Gold Board. We are told that the workers, nearly 200 of them, are being tested to determine their levels of contamination, if any. Medical experts may also want to include the staff at the Natural Resources Ministry and the workers in compounds neighbouring and opposite the GGMC.
Management says that this situation calls for utmost urgency, and that medical personnel from Eureka Labs have been contracted to conduct the tests, procure emergency medication, and treat all staff who present higher than acceptable levels of contamination.
Both public and private sector agencies and companies should now pay keener attention to their own operations and hasten to take every precautionary action if their workers deal with any hazardous material, even bleach and toilet cleaner, on a daily basis. Proprietors of jewellery stores, in particular, ought to have their gemologists, repairers, cleaners and polishers, even janitors, tested for possible mercury contamination.
This situation brings to mind the fact that there are a few buildings still in use in and outside the City that have asbestos roofs, walls and ceilings. We could hazard a guess at 40 year-old buildings. This too is dangerous to the health of all who enter those edifices.

FACTS AND EFFECTS OF MERCURY
– Guyana is among the last few gold-producing states in the world that have not instituted an outright ban, or imposed stringent restrictions on the use of elemental mercury

– We have found out that mercury released by small-scale mining around the world is a very significant source of atmospheric pollution, and it has been added to the list of “must-do’s” in the fight against global warming

– Mercury is easily absorbed by humans, animals and marine life

– The form of mercury found in contaminated fish is different from the elemental mercury in thermometers, or what is used in mining. Because of its extreme toxicity, it is very important that mercurial waste is tightly controlled

– Mercury is absorbed directly through the skin, but the main route of exposure is inhalation
– Both mercury vapor and methyl mercury affect the brain, the nervous system, and all of your five senses – vision, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. It affects internal organs as well, e.g. liver, kidneys and glands
– Mercury has no biological purpose so the human body recognizes it as a harmful intruder. The liver and kidneys attempt to rid the body of it. The liver attempts to detoxify through the digestive system. The kidneys attempt to get rid of it in urine. These ‘interventions’ work but they don’t do a complete job. That takes a long time.
– The hair is another means the body uses to try to rid itself of mercury. If contaminated, hair should be washed with neutral detergent, acetone and water to eliminate the mercury stuck to the strands.
And most importantly:
– Mercury also passes through the placenta in pregnant women, affecting developing foetuses. Mercury would impair proper development of nervous tissue and can result in mild to severe reduced intelligence and coordination, and distortion of limbs, at birth or later.