Impacts of the Goldmining and Chronic Methylmercury Exposure on the Good-Living and Mental Health of Munduruku Native Communities in the Amazon Basin
| Autor: | Paulo Cesar Basta, Ana Claudia Santiago de Vasconcellos, Rafaela Waddington Achatz, Lucia Pereira, Paulo Victor de Sousa Viana |
|---|---|
| Jazyk: | angličtina |
| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Health
Toxicology and Mutagenesis Environmental pollution Irritability Article symbols.namesake chemistry.chemical_compound Munduruku Rivers Environmental health Good-Living medicine Amerindian people Animals Humans Poisson regression Methylmercury cosmopolitics Depression (differential diagnoses) Aged Brazilian amazon Amazon rainforest business.industry Fishes Public Health Environmental and Occupational Health Social environment illegal mining activities Mercury Methylmercury Compounds Mental health chemistry symbols Medicine methylmercury exposure environmental pollution medicine.symptom business Brazil mental health Environmental Monitoring |
| Zdroj: | International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, Vol 18, Iss 8994, p 8994 (2021) International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health Volume 18 Issue 17 |
| ISSN: | 1661-7827 1660-4601 |
| Popis: | This paper is an exploratory study that examines the illegal goldmining impacts on Munduruku communities’ “Good-Living” (Xipan Jewewekukap) and explores the possible relationship between chronic methylmercury (MeHg) exposure and the worsening mental health conditions in three villages in the Middle-Tapajós River, Brazilian Amazon. The region has been experiencing a long-lasting threat of goldminers’ invasions. A total of 109 people were interviewed and evaluated. Total mercury (THg) exposure levels were evaluated through hair samples analysis, from which MeHg exposure levels were calculated. The Geriatric Depression Scale—Short Form (GDS-SF) was used as a screening tool in order to assess mental health indicators. Brief non-structured interviews were carried out to investigate how goldmining is impacting the communities Good-Living. A Poisson regression model was used to estimate the possible association between mental health indicators (assessed through the GDS-SF) and the following independent variables: (i) mercury exposure level (< 10.0 μg/g vs. ≥10.0 μg/g), (ii) self-reported nervousness, (iii) self-reported irritability, (iv) age group, and (v) monthly income. The analysis revealed high levels of mercury in hair samples (median: 7.4 µg/g, range 2.0–22.8 70% and 28% of the participants had THg levels ≥6.0 and ≥10.0 µg/g, respectively) and pointed to a tendency in which higher levels of methylmercury exposure (Hg ≥ 10.0 µg/g) could be linked to worse mental health indicators. Although the GDS-SF has presented limitations due to the Munduruku sociocultural context, our findings suggest a tendency of worse mental health indicators in participants presenting high levels of MeHg exposure. Despite this limitation, the qualitative approach indicates an evident association between the impacts of goldmining and the Munduruku people’s decreasing autonomy to maintain a Good-Living on their own terms, pointing to the importance of carrying out new investigations, especially considering longitudinal studies with qualitative methodologies and ethnographic approaches. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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