Monday, September 25, 2017

Chronic arsenic intoxication now more visible

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28857213

Chichester, USA, 31.08.2017 - A new method of diagnosis of chronic arsenic intoxication was published today by JAT (Journal of Applied Toxicology) [1].

The authors of the new method, called CAsIDS (abbreviation for "Chronic Arsenic Intoxication Diagnostic Score") are the Brazilian MD working in Switzerland, Sergio Ulhoa Dani and his Austrian colleague, Gerhard Franz Walter.

The method is based on non-invasively estimating the bone arsenic load from the arsenic concentration in two consecutive urine samples and includes the evaluation of clinical manifestations typical of chronic arsenic intoxication in various systems and organs of the human body.

Acute arsenic poisoning, although rare these days, is easily recognized for its symptoms such as mental confusion, diarrhea, respiratory and circulatory collapse followed by death within a few hours or days.

Chronic intoxication, although more frequent than acute poisoning, is difficult to recognize because its clinical and laboratory manifestations can be mistaken with those of other diseases that kill after years or decades.

The CasiDS method helps doctors recognize chronic poisoning at different levels of certainty.

In the journal JAT, the authors present clinical examples of chronic arsenic poisoning confirmed by CAsIDS.

Among the cases presented, there is a patient from the city of Paracatu, Minas Gerais, where the Canadian Kinross Gold Corporation / Kinross Brasil Mineração explores the largest open pit gold mine in Brazil.

The arsenic released from the rocks of the mine in Paracatu is transported by water and air and contaminates the rural and urban environment and thousands of its inhabitants.

Arsenic and its compounds are generally invisible, odorless and tasteless. With CAsIDS, at least the arsenic that contaminates the human body and causes disease became more visible.

Reference:

[1] Dani SU, Walter GF. Chronic arsenic intoxication diagnostic score (CAsIDS). J Appl Toxicol. 2017; 1-23. https://doi.org/10.1002/jat.3512

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Número real de mortes pela inalação de arsênio da mineração está oculto, dizem cientistas americanos

Keil e Richardson, dois cientistas do Departamento de Epidemiologia da Universidade da Carolina do Norte, USA, reavaliaram a ligação entre a inalação de arsênio por trabalhadores da mineração contratados entre 1938 e 1955 nos Estados Unidos, e múltiplas causas de morte até o ano de 1990. 

Eles estimaram que a eliminação da exposição ao arsênio no ambiente de trabalho poderia ter evitado 22 mortes à idade de 70 anos por cada 1.000 trabalhadores. Dessas 22 mortes, eles estimaram que 7 seriam devidas às doenças do coração, 4 devidas a cânceres do trato respiratório, e 11 devidas a outras causas. 

Isso significa que uma mineração que expõs 3 mil funcionários diretos e indiretos ao arsênio pode ter causado a morte de 66 pessoas nos Estados Unidos, onde geralmente os controles são mais rígidos que em outros países.

Os autores do estudo também mostraram que a sobrevivência dos trabalhadores saudáveis pode ter mascarado essas associações em análises feitas anteriormente. 

Os resultados enfatizam a necessidade de considerar todas as rotas de exposição ao arsênio nos estudos de avaliação de risco.

Referência:

Keil AP, Richardson DB. 2017. Reassessing the link between airborne arsenic exposure among anaconda copper smelter workers and multiple causes of death using the parametric g-formula. Environ Health Perspect. 125:608-614.

Wednesday, April 19, 2017

L'or à tout prix

Paris, 12 de abril de 2017
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxWd5V6calc



http://www.francetvpro.fr/france-o/programmes/2188467
Francetv pro  Ô
TEMPS FORT SEMAINE 15
INVESTIGATIÔNS — « LA SOIF DE L'OR »
L'OR À TOUT PRIX
Magazine d’investigation  Inédit  Mercredi 12 avril 2017 à 20.55 

Cette semaine, Investigatiôns enquête à Paracatu, au Brésil, sur la plus vaste mine d’or à ciel ouvert au monde ! Cette mine de 110 km² ressemble à un monstre énorme qui dévore chaque jour un peu plus la ville et ses habitants touchés par de nombreuses pathologies.

Paracatu est une ville brésilienne de 84 000 habitants située dans l'État du Minas Gerais. Elle est surnommée « la cité de l’or », mais devrait plutôt être appelée « la cité de l’arsenic ». Le nombre de cas de cancers et d’autres maladies graves y croît anormalement. Les pathologies répertoriées sont graves : cancers de toutes sortes, graves affections neurologiques accompagnées de paralysie, syndrome de Guillain-Barré, troubles auditifs, baisse de l’acuité visuelle...

L'origine du mal ? L’arsenic libéré dans l’air et dans l’eau par la plus grande mine d’or à ciel ouvert du monde.

La mine est la propriété du groupe canadien Kinross Gold Corporation. C’est la principale source de revenus et d’emplois de toute la région. Mais, depuis 1987, la population locale est exposée à une intoxication massive, même si la compagnie minière comme les autorités politiques et judiciaires, sous influence, la nient. « Attitude irresponsable », selon José Marcio dos Santos, un géologue à la retraite, et l'oncologue Sergio Ulhoa Dani, qui ont démontré la réalité et la gravité de l’intoxication. D’autres lanceurs d’alerte ont été menacés de mort et ont dû s’exiler après s’être exprimés à haute voix. C’est le cas de Rafaela Xavier, une ex-employée municipale. Les malades de Paracatu, eux, réclament aide et justice, mais personne ne les entend.

En Afrique, en Amérique du Nord et du Sud, rien n'a pu arrêter les compagnies minières dans leur soif d’or, d’argent et de platine.

À Paracatu, l’activité minière a commencé il y a trente ans, mais aucune enquête épidémiologique indépendante n'a encore été menée ; aucun procès instruit non plus, en dépit de plusieurs plaintes pour empoisonnement.

La mine est en activité jusqu'en 2036... La contamination n'est pas prête de s'arrêter. 

http://www.programme-tv.net/programme/culture-infos/r39064-investigations/9628979-investigations/#.WPBZjhQdsZg.facebook

Investigatiôns
Au sommaire : "L'or à tout prix" Un documentaire français réalisé par Zinedine Boudaoud en 2017. La plus grande mine d'or à ciel ouvert du monde se trouve près de la ville de Paracatu, dans l'Etat du Minas Gerais, au Brésil. Son exploration génère des emplois et des ressources pour la région, Mais elle inquiète sérieusement les habitants de Paracatu, intoxiqués par les métaux lourds libérés dans l'air. "L'or, une guerre sale" Un documentaire helvético-français réalisé par Daniel Schweizer en 2014. Des exploitations minières d'Amérique du Sud aux enseignes de luxe genevoises, enquête sur les dérives du marché de l'or et ses alternatives «vertes».

Le Figaro - Informations
Genre : Documentaire - Santé  Année : 2017
Résumé de L'or à tout prix
Paracatu est une ville brésilienne de 84 000 habitants située dans l'État du Minas Gerais, au Brésil. Elle est surnommée «la Cité de l'or», mais devrait plutôt être appelée «la Cité de l'arsenic». Le nombre de cas de cancers et d'autres maladies graves y croît anormalement. Les pathologies répertoriées sont graves : cancers de toutes sortes, graves affections neurologiques accompagnées de paralysie, syndrome de Guillain-Barré, troubles auditifs, baisse de l'acuité visuelle. L'origine du mal ? L'arsenic libéré dans l'air et dans l'eau par la plus grande mine d'or à ciel ouvert du monde.

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

Método SORAS para purificação de água contaminada pelo arsênio

Como é público e notório, e está comprovado em diversos estudos científicos, a mineração de ouro em rocha arsenopirita conduzida pela Kinross em Paracatu está contaminando o ar, os solos e as águas com arsênio inorgânico altamente tóxico e danoso para a sua saúde.

Enquanto uma solução judicial para o problema não é encontrada, é preciso tomar alguns cuidados para minimizar a exposição ao arsênio. Obviamente, a maioria das pessoas que moram em Paracatu não podem se mudar da cidade, e continuam sujeitas a respirar o veneno, dia e noite.

Algumas pessoas, como os habitantes do Vale do Ribeirão Santa Rita, encontram-se forçadas a consumir água do subsolo que já está gravemente contaminada pela atividade minerária da Kinross, conforme mostramos ano passado [1].

É possível que pessoas vivendo em outras regiões também sejam afetadas, pela influência das barragens de rejeitos da Kinross [2].

De qualquer modo, a água sob influência da mineração não está própria para consumo. 

Se você mora na região impactada pela mineração, ou se usa água de poço contaminada pelo arsênio, recomendamos que você trate a água de beber da seguinte forma (método SORAS-"Solar Oxidation and Removal of Arsenic", desenvolvido pelo suíços Stephan Hug e Martin Wegelin, do Instituto Federal Suíço para Ciência e Tecnolgia Ambiental (EAWAG) [3]:

- encha uma garrafa PET transparente com 1 litro da água contaminada pelo arsênio;

- pingue algumas gotas de ácido cítrico (você deve achar no supermercado, pois ele é usado para a preparação de refrescos e doces). Se não encontrar, use 4 a 8 gotas de suco de limão mesmo;

- deixe a garrafa PET deitada ao sol, durante o dia todo; dentro de algumas horas, a parte ultravioleta  da luz do sol, na presença do ácido cítrico e de hidróxido de ferro presente na água acelera a oxidação do arsênio (III) para arsênio (V), que se liga mais fortemente ao ferro dissolvido, formando um precipitado; 

- à noitinha, coloque a garrafa de pé e deixe-a quieta até o dia seguinte. Se o método de purificação funcionou, você verá o precipitado (uma "laminha") no fundo da garrafa. Despeje a água tratada num filtro de barro normal ou num recipiente limpo, tomando o cuidado de não agitar o precipitado. Jogue fora o precipitado contendo arsênio e ferro.

Referências:

[1] Santos MJ, Dani SU. 2016. Arsenic contamination of the environment and the human compartment by gold mining in Paracatu, MG, Brazil. Congresso da Sociedade de Análise de Risco Latino Americana, IPT, São Paulo, Brasil – 10-13 Mai, 2016.

[2] Conheça a hipótese da contaminação das águas subterrâneas de Paracatu: http://alertaparacatu.blogspot.ch/2009/12/hipotese-de-contaminacao-das-aguas-de.html.

[3] Hug SJ, Canonica L, Wegelin M, Gechter D, Von Gunten U. Solar oxidation and removal of arsenic at circumneutral pH in iron containing waters. Environ Sci Technol. 2001 May 15;35(10):2114-21.

Friday, March 31, 2017

El Salvador, Prizing Water Over Gold, Bans All Metal Mining

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/03/29/world/americas/el-salvador-prizing-water-over-gold-bans-all-metal-mining.html?_r=0



Declaring that El Salvador’s fragile environment could not sustain metal mining operations, legislators across the political spectrum approved the ban, which had broad support, particularly from the influential Roman Catholic Church.



Supporters said the law was needed to protect the country’s dwindling supply of clean water.
“Today in El Salvador, water won out over gold,” Johnny Wright Sol, a legislator from the center-right Arena party, wrote on Twitter.



The vote in the Legislative Assembly turned a decade-old moratorium on mining into law, halting efforts by international companies to tap the gold belt running across the northern provinces of El Salvador.



“It’s a wonderful moment for the first country to evaluate the costs and benefits of metallic mining and say no,” said Andrés McKinley, a mining and water specialist at Central American University in San Salvador.



The law does not apply to quarrying or the mining of coal, salt and other nonmetallic substances.
Other countries are unlikely to follow El Salvador’s national ban, mining watchdog groups say. But the law sets a powerful example to communities that oppose large mining projects and bolsters the case against mining in environmentally delicate areas.



“Globally there is a growing questioning of mining as an economic development engine,” said Keith Slack, the global program director for extractive industries at Oxfam America in Washington. “I think it definitely strengthens the voice of communities that are raising the questions.”



Around the world, scattered bans on the use of cyanide to extract gold from low-grade ore, commonly used in open-pit mining, are in place, including in Montana, according to Jamie Kneen, a spokesman for Mining Watch Canada. Costa Rica has a national ban on open-pit gold mining.


Germany, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Turkey and several Argentine provinces have cyanide bans. In the Philippines, the government ordered more than half the mines to shut down or be suspended.
The risks of mining in El Salvador, however, are especially acute. The tiny country is densely populated and the second-most environmentally degraded country in the Americas, after Haiti, according to the United Nations.



“Mining is an industry whose primary and first victim is water,” said Mr. McKinley, who added that El Salvador faced a significant scarcity. “We are talking about an issue that is a life-or-death issue for the country.”



Mr. Wright, the legislator who worked to persuade his business-friendly party to support the law, said that climate change was already having an impact on El Salvador. “More than a theory or an uncertain science that it might have been 10 years ago, today for Salvadorans, it is a reality,” he said.



Unlike mining in neighboring Central American countries, mining in El Salvador has been limited to small-scale operations. The civil war of the 1980s deterred efforts to develop large-scale mines. International mining companies did not begin exploring until the 2000s.


Opposition to one of those companies eventually grew into a social movement against mining. The company, Pac Rim Cayman, sought a license to open a mine in the impoverished northern province of Cabañas but was rejected in 2005 because it had not met all the legal requirements.


As opposition mounted, clashes around the proposed mine led to the deaths of several anti-mining activists.



The de facto moratorium on permits that began under a government led by the Arena Party continued under the two successive governments led by the left-wing Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front.



Last October, El Salvador won an international dispute that had been filed by Pac Rim and continued by the Canadian-Australian company, OceanaGold, that acquired it. An international arbitration panel rejected OceanaGold’s claims for compensation.