Gold mining presents serious health issues for the Wayana. Last year, Augustine gave a presentation to the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C., on regulating illegal mining in Suriname. She documented environmental degradation, mercury and arsenic contamination of food and water, and the disruption of traditional food gathering.
“We have definitive proof that their bodies are contaminated with mercury, which has a neurological impact that causes every kind of damage you can think of,” Augustine said.
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