State Of Emergency In Peru's Southern Amazon; Massive Mercury Poisoning From Illegal Mining

The Peruvian government has declared a state of emergency in 11 towns in the Madre de Dios region bordering Brazil after found officials alarmingly high levels of mercury, a harmful heavy metal used in gold mining. The ministry of environment announced the measure on Monday after hair samples from local people in the Madre de Dios area of eastern Peru revealed levels of mercury up to 16 times what it considered a safe limit of 1 microgram of the metal per gram.

The ministry said the poisoning is believed to affect around 50,000 people, many of them living in remote corners of the Amazon near two world-renowned ecotourism destinations — the Tambopata Nature Reserve and Manu National Park. The indigenous Harakmbut people, many of whom still live a largely traditional lifestyle in the rainforest, are thought to be particularly affected.

The environment ministry also said that the 60-day state of emergency includes a government commitment to provide drinking water and food to local communities, which normally depend on the heavily-contaminated river for their basic needs. Catching or consuming calophysus macropterus, a common local species of catfish that accumulates mercury, has also been banned.

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/Peru-Declares-Emergency-over-Mercury-Contamination-in-Amazon-20160523-0042.html

So, let's sum up: tens of thousands poisoned, ongoing destruction of two of the most biodiverse places in the world . . . but wait! There's more! The leading candidate for president wants to remove those pesky environmental regulations, because growth!!

EDIT

Some of the country's new gold miners have also made millions, and have even imported heavy machinery and large dredgers while employing hundreds of other miners to work for them.

One Madre de Dios lawmaker from President Ollanta Humala's Nationalist Party, Amado Romero, has even earned the nickname of the "gold eater" for his illegal mining business. The scandal broke in 2011 when he was a member of the congressional committee on energy and mining.

The government has taken some moves to crack down on the problem, including sending in the military to dynamite equipment. But the miners have usually been able to avoid arrest by melting into the jungle, returning once the raids are over.

Meanwhile, even with the new state of emergency, the problem could get even worse if Keiko Fujimori wins Peru's June 5 presidential election, as polls currently predict she will. The right-wing candidate has promised to reverse Humala's attempts to stop the mining, and described the government's environmental regulations as "obstacles" put in the path of the miners.

EDIT

https://news.vice.com/article/peru-declares-state-of-emergency-in-its-jungles-due-to-rampant-mercury-poisoning