Fighting pollution critical to fight against diseases of poverty

Caravanos also discussed his visits to artisanal gold mining and processing sites in Peru. Miners collect gold in the Amazon and combine it with mercury, then travel to the cities to process the ore. This process converts mercury to methylmercury, a powerful neurotoxin. Caravanos and his team collected soil samples near one of these processing sites. The tests revealed high levels of methylmercury in the soil outside the processing site, where children were playing.
Artisanal miners and their families are particularly at risk from exposure to methylmercury. When children are exposed in the womb, methylmercury can interfere with their cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, and fine motor and visual-spatial skills.
http://www.humanosphere.org/environment/2015/06/fighting-pollution-critical-to-fight-against-diseases-of-poverty/