Gold Mining: How Lower-Income Women Are Exposed To Mercury

Women from small-scale gold mining communities had some of the highest rates of mercury in their hair samples. In Indonesia, Kenya and Myanmar more than half of the sampled women from these mining communities exceeded the limit. These operations often extract gold from ores by heating up an alloy containing mercury, creating mercury vapor that can be inhaled. According to Bell, this can put workers at risk and contaminate local waterways
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