What’s behind the alarming rise in birth defects in Brazil’s illegal gold mining capital?

In Pará state children are being born with neurological disorders. Experts note similarities to the mercury poisoning disaster in Minamata, Japan – but say that is not the whole story

Seven-year-old Valdenisa squealed with delight as she grasped the tape measure above her head. It was part of a game so that a doctor could measure the circumference of her head and check her withered legs.

She was one of a dozen Indigenous Munduruku children being examined by a trio of child neurologists and geneticists earlier this month in Itaituba, in Brazil’s Pará state. Located on the Tapajós River, the town is known as the country’s illegal gold capital, as it accounts for three-quarters of all the illicit gold produced in Brazil.

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What’s behind the alarming rise in birth defects in Brazil’s illegal gold mining capital?

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Related

Folic acid added to flour to lessen birth defects

Polluted rivers, uprooted farmland and lost taxes: Ghana counts cost of illegal gold mining boom

What to know about a standoff between police and illegal miners at a South Africa mine

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