by Gigi Dumallig

TABUK CITY, Kalinga - “Mercury used in mines should stop now.” This is the call of two nongovernment organizations as they seek help from the local media in their advocacy to reduce the use of said toxic chemical in mines in the province.

During the media briefing entitled, "Reducing Mercury Pollution in Artisanal and Small Scale Gold Mining in Balbalan, Kalinga" last May 20 here, researchers from the Basel Action Network (BAN) Toxics, Dialogos, and the Department of Public Health University of Copenhagen, Denmark said their attention was called after a press release was posted in a regional paper indicating the presence of mercury in three major river systems of the province.

Dr. Rasmus Køster-Rasmussen MD, research assistant at the Department of Public Health University of Copenhagen, Denmark said that the mere presence of mercury in the water system regardless of its concentration is enough to call the attention of the public.

The miners who are the ones directly in contact with the chemical, he said, should be more concerned ”to take action and stop the mercury use.”

Mercury poisoning in human, he said, is a matter that should be taken seriously since it could cause irreversible brain damage.

The neurological effect of mercury exposure could be manifested with tremor, memory loss, anxiety, inability to sleep, aggressive personality changes, deafness, visual, and sensory disturbances.

Rasmussen said that mercury could enter the human body in three ways:
First is through inhalation of the metal fumes during the process of malgamation and when the chemical vaporizes when exposed in room temperature.

Second is by eating or drinking the organic form of mercury which could be found in fishes (that ate contaminated micro-organisms in water), contaminated drinking water or from crops irrigated with contaminated water.

The human being the top in the food chain, according to Rasmussen will get the highest concentration of mercury for eating contaminated food from the lower level of the food chain.

Thirdly, mercury could also be acquired by birth because mothers exposed to mercury will transfer the toxic chemical to their unborn child eventually affecting the intellectual capability of their growing children.
Said chemical is acquired but will not be flushed out from the body. Mothers, on the other hand, upon transferring to their children the chemical, could lessen the concentration in their body.

Offering a solution, the researcher said that miners could instead use borax as a replacement of the hazardous mercury in purifying the gold in their mining activities.

Accompanying Dr. Rasmus Køster-Rasmussen are Dr. Marie Brasholt of Dialogos with Emy Perez and Leoncio Na-oy of BAN toxics. *(JDP/GGD-PIA CAR, Kalinga)