Peru Declares State of Emergency as Mercury Contamination From Illegal Gold Mining Poisons People and Planet

27 May 2016

 - Peru’s government has declared a two-month state of emergency across 11 Amazon jungle districts due to mercury contamination caused by widespread illegal gold mining activities.

The South American country, home to 13 percent of the iconic Amazon rainforest, is the sixth largest gold producer in the world. Covert mining for the luxury metal, however, has been a major cost to the environment and human health.

“Gold has a dirty underbelly, whether the horrific mercury poisoning in the Peruvian Amazon from small-scale mining, or the human rights abuses in northern Peru perpetuated by multinational mining companies,” Earthworks mining program director Payal Sampat told EcoWatch.