Invisible poison: Airborne mercury from gold mining is contaminating African food crops, new study warns

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

65% : The meeting's sessions cover a wide range of topics, including volcanology, planetary exploration, the Earth's internal structure and atmosphere, climate, energy, and resources.
62% : If you wish to receive our press releases via email, please use the Press Release Subscription Form at https://www.egu.eu/news/subscription/. Subscribed journalists and other members of the media receive EGU press releases under embargo (if applicable) 24 hours in advance of public dissemination.
58% : "Due to the toxicity of bioaccumulation and biomagnification potential of methylmercury, fish consumption in ASGM areas has been a major focus of epidemiological research in ASGM areas.
55% : The research is also a call to action for governments and international organizations tasked with enforcing the 'Minamata Convention on Mercury'.
54% : Yet regulation and monitoring are limited in many parts of the Global South, where ASGM is often an economic lifeline for communities facing poverty and displacement.
50% : Driven by the surging price of gold, which has increased by more than tenfold since 2000, the rapid expansion of unregulated mining in these regions raises urgent questions about food security, human health, and environmental justice The study, conducted by an international team of scientists led by Excellent O. Eboigbe and David McLagan at Queens University, and Abiodun Odukoya Mary at the University of Lagos, focused on a farming community in Nigeria situated near an artisanal and small-scale gold mining site.

*Our bias meter rating uses data science including sentiment analysis, machine learning and our proprietary algorithm for determining biases in news articles. Bias scores are on a scale of -100% to 100% with higher negative scores being more liberal and higher positive scores being more conservative, and 0% being neutral. The rating is an independent analysis and is not affiliated nor sponsored by the news source or any other organization.