Natives most affected by Amazon mercury: Study

A study of mercury contamination from rampant informal gold mining in Peru's Amazon finds that indigenous people, and particularly the children, to be most affected.

The research detailed Monday by the Carnegie Institution for Science found 76.5 percent of 1,029 people in the Madre de Dios region to have mercury levels above acceptable limits.

Project director Luis Fernandez say people in native communities had mercury levels in hair samples more than twice those in non-indigenous communities. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/pollution/Natives-most-affected-by-Amazon-mercury-Study/articleshow/22450388.cms