Remote Amazon tribe hit by mercury crisis, leaked report says

Other possible explanations for the mercury are mooted by the report, but quickly dismissed. These include the use of mercury in possible artisanal gold-mining in the reserve - ruled out because satellite images showed no evidence of any mining - or visits by the Nahua to the adjacent Madre de Dios watershed where artisanal gold-miners have cleared 10,000s of hectares of the forest, causing a chronic mercury epidemic among the population. Further, more general possible explanations are mooted too: deforestation, waste burning, water capture and industry. The report states there are large logging concessions just to the north of the reserve about which “no information exists”, but that there are no “significantly deforested areas” in the reserve itself.
read more... https://www.theguardian.com/environment/andes-to-the-amazon/2018/jan/24/amazon-tribe-mercury-crisis-leaked-report