At four locations close to the Yanomami Indigenous reserve in Brazil, many species of fish were found to have mercury levels considered unsafe for consumption
Fish is a major part of the diet for Yanomami people
Pulsar Imagens/Alamy
Mercury pollution from illegal mining in the Brazilian Amazon means that many species of fish that people depend on for food in the northern state of Roraima are now unsafe to eat.
The toxic metal mercury is used to separate gold from sediment and an estimated 45 per cent of that used by illegal miners in the Amazon is dumped in rivers.
To determine the health risk this poses to local communities, Ana Claudia Santiago de Vasconcellos at the …