women who are nursing. Commonly used in artisanal and small-scale gold mining, mercury
represents a significant health and environmental threat not only locally to miners and their
communities but also globally because mercury emissions can travel in the atmosphere around
the earth, far from its original source. Mercury is a highly toxic pollutant that can damage the
brain and nervous system. Once deposited, mercury travels up the food chain, concentrating in
the fish that we eat as well as in birds and marine mammals. Around the world, mercury levels
in many important species of fish have risen to the point of being unsafe for those who rely on
fish as a regular part of their diet.
http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/226052.pdf
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