Mercury exposure and health impacts among individuals in the artisanal and small-scale gold mining community: A comprehensive review

Background: Mercury is used in gold mining to extract gold from ore by forming “amalgam” – a mixture composed of approximately equal parts mercury and gold.  Approximately 15 million people, including approximately 3 million women and children, participate in artisanal small-scale gold mining (ASGM) in developing countries.  Thirty-seven percent of global air emissions of mercury are produced by ASGM.  The recently adopted Minamata Convention calls for nations to gather health data, train health-care workers, and do awareness-raising in regard to ASGM activity. 

Objectives: The purpose of this review is to evaluate the current literature regarding the health effects of mercury among those working and/or living in or near ASGM communities.  This review will also describe levels of mercury exposure among those working and/or living near ASGM communities.

Methods: PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google were searched for studies relating to health effects and biomarkers of mercury exposure in ASGM communities.  Articles published from 1990 through December 2012 were evaluated for relevance.

Discussion: Studies reporting health assessments, kidney dysfunction, neurologic disorders and symptoms, and immunotoxicity/autoimmune dysfunction in individuals living in or near an ASGM community were identified.  Over sixty studies that measured biomarkers of mercury exposure in individuals living in or near ASGM communities were also identified.  These studies, conducted in 19 different countries in South America, Asia, and Africa, demonstrated that hair and urine concentrations are well above WHO health guidance values. 

Conclusions:  ASGM workers and their families are exposed to dangerous levels of mercury vapor, and workers, workers’ families, and residents of nearby and downstream communities are consuming fish heavily contaminated with methylmercury.