THE ILLEGAL GOLD MINING BOOM THAT'S POISONING COLOMBIA

Last year, the Colombian government released a report that documented 1,126 cases of mercury poisoning from 2013 to 2015. In the 2013–14 period alone, the number of documented cases jumped 770 percent. Four physicians and toxicologists consulted by OZY all insist that the studies are underfunded, limited in reach and fail to capture the full scope of the crisis. Toxicologist Federico Molina says that in some of the most contaminated mining towns in the Antioquia Department in northwest Colombia, mercury levels in urine samples are 300 percent to 400 percent above the permitted level. “If the government doesn’t do something about this [problem], we’re likely going to see an increase in cases,” Molina says.
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