In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, Sutter Gold Mining Company mill superintendent Paul Skinner displays a four ounce pyramid of gold he has just poured at the newly constructed mill near Sutter Creek, Calif. The company announced Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, that it poured its first gold as it prepared to begin the first large scale Sierra Nevada underground gold mining operation in a half century. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
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In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, Sutter Gold Mining Company mill superintendent Paul Skinner displays a four ounce pyramid of gold he has just poured at the newly constructed mill near Sutter Creek, Calif. The company announced Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, that it poured its first gold as it prepared to begin the first large scale Sierra Nevada underground gold mining operation in a half century. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
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In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, miner Keith Emerald uses a pneumatic drill to drill holes that will be packed with explosives to blast into the sold rock wall at the Sutter Gold Mining Co's mines near in Sutter Creek, Calif. The company announced Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, that it poured its first gold as it prepared to begin the first large scale Sierra Nevada underground gold mining in a half century. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
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In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, Matt Collins, chief operating officer of the Sutter Gold Mining Co., inspects one of the gold mining tunnels operated by the company near Sutter Creek, Calif. The company, which has begun mining adjacent to the historic Comet-Lincoln ore zones, announced Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, that it poured its first gold as it prepared to begin the first large scale Sierra Nevada underground gold mining in a half century. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
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In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, miner Keith Emerald uses a pneumatic drill to drill holes that will be packed with explosives to blast into the sold rock wall at the Sutter Gold Mining Co's mines near in Sutter Creek, Calif. The company announced Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, that it poured its first gold as it prepared to begin the first large scale Sierra Nevada underground gold mining in a half century. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
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In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, Matt Collins, chief operating officer of the Sutter Gold Mining Co., left, watches as Allen Smith, second from left, Brain Herfel, third from left, Ted Chapman fouth from left, and Wayne Murphy, right, calibrate the water flow of a gravity table at the company's newly constructed mill near Sutter Creek, Calif. The gravity table uses technology similar to those used by gold rush-era miners who used pans to separate gold from surrounding materials. The company, which has begun mining adjacent to the historic Comet-Lincoln ore zones, announced Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, that it poured its first gold as it prepared to begin the first large scale Sierra Nevada underground gold mining in a half century. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
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In this photo taken Thursday, Dec. 13, 2012, gold can be seen in a quartz rock taken from the mine operated by the Sutter Gold Mine Co. near Sutter Creek, Calif. The company, which has begun mining adjacent to the historic Comet-Lincoln ore zones, announced Monday, Dec. 17, 2012, that it poured its first gold as it prepared to begin the first large scale Sierra Nevada underground gold mining in a half century. (AP Photo/Rich Pedroncelli)
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This image provided by NASA shows an artist rendering of the newfound planet known as Kepler-37b. The planet is about the size of our moon and is the smallest known exoplanet, according to a study published in Thursday Feb. 21,2013 issue of the journal Nature. (AP Photo/NASA/Ames/JPL-Caltech)
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In this Feb. 16, 2013 photo, farmer Geronimo Blanco shows his quinoa plants in Patamanta, Bolivia. Blanco also grows potatoes, carrots and peas. A burgeoning global demand for quinoa is spurring new cultivation all across Bolivia's western highlands as prices for the Andean "super grain" soar. But agronomists say quinoa fever is running up against physical limits. Quinoa does not lend itself to industrial-scale production and the rush to increase yields is prompting Bolivian growers to abandon traditional agricultural practices, thus endangering the fragile highlands' ecosystem. Bolivia's President Evo Morales will attend a U.N. event declaring declare 2013 International Year of Quinoa on Feb. 20. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
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In this Feb. 16, 2013 photo, quinoa plants grow in a farmer's field in Patamanta, Bolivia. A burgeoning global demand for quinoa is spurring new cultivation all across Bolivia's western highlands as prices for the Andean "super grain" soar. But agronomists say quinoa fever is running up against physical limits. Quinoa does not lend itself to industrial-scale production and the rush to increase yields is prompting Bolivian growers to abandon traditional agricultural practices, thus endangering the fragile highlands' ecosystem. Bolivia's President Evo Morales will attend a U.N. event declaring declare 2013 International Year of Quinoa on Feb. 20. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
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In this Feb. 17, 2013 photo, people eat pesque, a traditional Andean plate made of cooked quinoa with cheese and milk at a street market in El Alto, Bolivia. A burgeoning global demand for quinoa is spurring new cultivation all across Bolivia's western highlands as prices for the Andean "super grain" soar. But agronomists say quinoa fever is running up against physical limits. Quinoa does not lend itself to industrial-scale production and the rush to increase yields is prompting Bolivian growers to abandon traditional agricultural practices, thus endangering the fragile highlands' ecosystem. Bolivia's President Evo Morales will attend a U.N. event on Feb. 20 declaring 2013 the International Year of Quinoa. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)
Study finds mounting mercury threat in Peru Amazon
LIMA, Peru (AP) — A study of mercury contamination in a southeastern Peruvian jungle area ravaged by illegal gold mining found unsafe levels of the toxic metal in 78 percent of adults in the regional capital and in 60 percent of fish sold at markets.
The study by the Carnegie Institution for Science calls the contamination a "grave and mounting threat to public health."
Mercury is a byproduct of artisanal gold mining as practiced by the estimated 40,000 miners in the Madre de Dios region.
In discussing the overall human impact, the newly released study said that the population segment most vulnerable to mercury poisoning had the highest average mercury levels: women of childbearing age. As a neurotoxin, mercury can cause severe, permanent brain damage to an unborn child.
The study, led by Luis E. Fernandez of Stanford University, said mercury levels increased in 10 of 11 fish species studied in 2009 and then again in 2012.
Peru is the world's fifth largest gold producer, and the government has made scant progress trying to halt the illegal mining and formalize the miners.
Unlike formal mining that occurs in the Andean highlands, the mining in Madre de Dios consists chiefly of scouring riverbeds and alluvial deposits for flecks of gold that adhere to mercury in a crude amalgamation process.
About 35 metric tons of mercury is dispersed into the air and waters of the region annually, exposing not just miners to the metal but also city dwellers in Puerto Maldonado, the regional capital that is one of the urban areas where mercury vapor is released by "gold shops" that buy and refine gold.
In addition to the mercury contamination, the mining has denuded some 70 square miles (18,000 hectares) of formerly virgin rainforest in one of the world's most biologically diverse regions.
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