Alternative plans for protecting the Amazon

I studied about mercury’s effects in high school. The mercury effect is horrible to me because the mercury is often used these days. If we get too much mercury, we can get Minamata disease, a serious problem in Japan in 1956, which makes people have mental illness and even die. So we try to not use mercury. But many people use mercury without thinking about the problem. Especially in the Amazon, the most serious problem is mercury pollution. Because of that the ecosystem and humans have seriously suffered. We don’t know how much mercury we have, and as time goes by, the mercury brings disease. The mercury in the Amazon comes from gold mining (Ryan, 2006). When gold miners extract the gold, they use the mercury. After extracting, the leftover, which contains the mercury, is thrown into the river and the mercury is oxidized into the methylmercury (Ryan, 2006). After the mercury changes into methylmercury, we can’t distinguish the mercury, so the fishes and Amazon villagers drink the water with the mercury. And they have the high mercury level (Harada et al., 2001). These levels affect not only the present age, but also the next generation, because of contamination. We should not delay making the solution to protect the Amazon. After time passes, more problems will occur and the Amazon will be in a dangerous situation.

To protect the Amazon, we should make alternative plans. The government should stop gold miners from using mercury to decrease the mercury pollution, and should make a limit on gold mining. Finally, they should invest in making other methods for gold mining.

First of all, we should stop gold miners from using the mercury to decrease the mercury pollution. The gold miners don’t think about what will happen after using mercury. So they throw out the leftover into the water. After converting methylmercury, mercury is poisonous and we can’t distribute that, so the fish and villagers drink and use it. Thus, the villagers take the mercury from eating fish and water. According to Homewood, “a doctor based in the city of Santarem, analysed the amount of mercury in hairs from 20 members of a nearby riverside community. The World Health Organization’s safety limit for mercury is two micrograms per gram of hair. All 20 people were over the safe limit. Levels in some, including a child of 16 months, were more than three times over the limit. The mercury almost certainly came from contaminated fish. 'The people examined are a riverside community who have nothing to do with gold-miners. They eat fish for lunch, fish for dinner and fish for breakfast,' said Branches” (1991, para. 2). Mercury contaminates our bodies and doesn’t go outside. If we take too much mercury, the mercury makes a central nerve problem. The mercury that goes to the brain kills brain cells and then the brain can’t work. In the case of the children, they can’t develop their language. People can get acquired quadriplegia and weakened muscles because of mercury. Ryan (2006) wrote that the amount of mercury in the river was found to be unchanged at 50km and 400km from the mining site. It is dangerous because the mercury pollution can occur not only near the Amazon, but also in distant areas from the Amazon. Using lots of mercury makes dangerous situations. So the government makes the law to prohibit using mercury for all people.

Second, the government should make a limit on gold mining. Both gold miners and the government is responsible for mercury pollution. In the article from Brazil Gold Mining and Environment, according to Brett D. Schaefer (n.d., para. 27), “Brazil has a responsibility to its citizens to protect them from mercury poisoning that can currently result from drinking water or eating fish from the Amazon.” If the government restricted the amount of gold mining, the gold miners would use the mercury less than now. According to Ryan (2006, para. 2), “the rate of production of Gold equals the rate of production for Mercury.” This statement tells us the relationship between mercury and gold mining. The gold mining harms the Amazon, so autopurification can’t occur, so pollution can’t be solved. For example, to gain the gold the gold miners bump the Amazon, because they need the dust, not the ore.
Finally, the government should invest in making other methods for gold mining. They should invest in making chemicals to stop using mercury. Now, what we mainly find is degrading the mercury. In the Amazon, too much mercury existed so we need the method of decreasing the mercury. For example, in “Science Daily”, the lead author, Reed Harris of Tetra Tech, and co-author, Dr. Andrew Heyes of the University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, state, “by adding stable mercury isotopes to an entire ecosystem for several years, our team was able to zero in on the effects of changing atmospheric mercury deposition. Using the stable isotope approach has revealed a great deal about the cycling mercury in watersheds. We look forward to continuing our study to provide guidance in mitigating the legacy left by the years of high mercury deposition” (2007, para. 2,3).

Furthermore, we need methods of extracting gold. For example, using chlorination can separate the gold from the gold ore. If the chlorination gas is put to the melting gold, we can get the pure gold. According to the Ehow education editor (2007), “in third step, use hard rock mining when the gold is encased in rock instead of being in loose sediment. This can be done in an open pit or underground. Most of the gold in the world is mined with these methods. In fourth step, extract the gold with cyanide. If the ore contains small particles of gold, grind the ore into a powder and add cyanide. The gold cyanide solution can then be separated from the rock. Add zinc to the solution to precipitate out the heavy metals. Add sulfuric acid to remove the zinc. The resulting gold sludge can then be smelted and refined to a high purity” (para. 4,5). We can get the gold without using mercury. Even If the other method is more expensive than using mercury,
we should choose the other method. Protecting the environment and humans is more valuable than money.

Some people argue that improving Brazil’s competitive power is more important than protecting the Amazon. To solve the foreign currency problem, Brazil should permit unlimited gold mining. According to Amazongis, “in Brazil, rainforest cities like Manaus have grown and industrial projects like commercial gold and bauxite mining have been established, all of which has greatly increased energy demands” (n.d., para. 2). But protecting Amazon, by limiting gold mining can develop the Brazil by the tourist industry. They should think about the future. If Brazil admits a large quantitiy of gold mining to make a high state economy, they will have a more serious problem with humans and ecosystem like getting the mercury disease.

In conclusion, we should protect the Amazon for human and environment. To protect the Amazon we should find the solution to the gold mining problem. The government should prohibit gold miners from using mercury to prevent ecosystem and Amazon villagers damaging from mercury and they also find the program about degrading existent mercury pollution. They should make a limit on gold mining because there is relation between the proportion of gold mining and the proportion of mercury pollution. Brazil should invest in the making the methods of extracting the gold from gold ore. There are many methods to extract the gold. Even though other methods are more expensive, they should consider which one is really important to them.

Refrence

Amazongis (n.d.). Amazon conservaion and development issues. www.amazongis.org. Retrieved November 25, 2007 from http://amazongis.org/oldsite/Pages/Development.html

Ehow Education Editor (November 29, 2007). How to obtain gold. www.ehow.com. Retrieved November 25, 2007 from http://www.ehow.com/how_2064345_obtain-gold.html


Harada et al. (2001, October 27). Mercury pollution in the Tapajos River basin, Amazon: mercury level o f head hair and health effects. www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/. Retrieved November 03, 2007 from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez?db=pubmed&uid=11686639&cmd=showdetailview&indexed=google


Homewood, B. (1991, November 09). Mercury poisoning confirmed among Amazon villagers. Newscientist.com. Retrieved October 29, 2007 from http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg13217941.800&print=true


Ryan, F. (2006). The Amazon rain forest. web.mit.edu/. Retrieved November 4, 2007 from http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2006/teams/furness/mercury.html

Schaefer, B. (n.d.). Brazil Gold Mining and Environment (BRAGOLD Case) www.American.edu. retrieved from November 29, 2007 from http://www.american.edu/projects/mandala/TED/bragold.htm

ScienceDaily (2007, September 18). Mercury concentrations in fish respond quickly to increased mercury pollution. www.sciencedaily.com. Retrieved November 4, 2007 from http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070917172933.htm