La contaminación por mercurio y los derechos humanos

The document details how mercury exposure—through industrial emissions, artisanal gold mining, and contaminated food sources—causes severe neurological and systemic health damage, particularly in fetuses and children. It links these health outcomes to violations of international human rights frameworks and provides case studies of mass poisoning in Japan, Iraq, and South Africa.

• Mercury is a highly toxic element with no known safe exposure level and no physiological function in the human body. Exposure can occur through inhalation of elemental mercury vapor, which is 80% absorbed by the respiratory tract, or through acute exposure to inorganic mercury salts, which can cause corrosive gastrointestinal and kidney damage.
• Methylmercury is the primary form of mercury contaminating fish and shellfish, posing a significant risk to populations relying on subsistence fishing. In selected populations in Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, and Greenland, between 1.5 and 7 per 1,000 children suffered cognitive impairments due to mercury-contaminated fish consumption.
• Fetuses are the most susceptible to mercury exposure, as the fetal central nervous system shows the highest sensitivity. Mercury levels in the fetal brain tend to be significantly higher than in maternal blood, potentially impairing cognitive thinking, memory, attention, language, fine motor skills, and visual spatial abilities.
• Mercury pollution has caused catastrophic losses of life and health, exemplified by the Minamata disease in Japan caused by Chisso Corp. wastewater, and a 1970 incident in Iraq where mercury-coated grain from the US and Mexico led to an estimated 10,000 deaths and 100,000 cases of severe brain damage.
• Artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM) creates severe health hazards for workers and communities. In Venezuela, mercury concentrations in the air reached a mean of 183 µg/m³, with 26% exceeding the ACGIH threshold limit value. In Indonesia, studies on ASGM found chronic mercury poisoning in 55% of workers in Sulawesi and 62% in Kalimantan.
• Mercury pollution threatens the right to food, as fish provide at least 15% of average per capita animal protein consumption for 2.9 billion people. A US Geological Survey found mercury in all sampled predatory fish across 291 locations, with 27% exceeding the US EPA human health criterion of 0.3 micrograms of methylmercury per gram of wet weight.
• Lack of information and poor waste management lead to environmental mercury release. In the Philippines, 88% of households dispose of mercury-containing lamps with domestic waste. Globally, the burning of products with added mercury adds 200 annual tons of mercury to the atmosphere.
• Child labor in mining is a critical issue, with approximately 1 million children involved in mining exploitation. In Indonesia and Zimbabwe, children working in ASGM exhibited high mercury levels and symptoms of poisoning, such as ataxia, sometimes starting work as young as 7 years old.

APA

Center for International Environmental Law (n.d.). La contaminación por mercurio y los derechos humanos. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/HR_Mercury_SPA-1.pdf

Chicago

Center for International Environmental Law. La contaminación por mercurio y los derechos humanos. n.d. https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/HR_Mercury_SPA-1.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Center for International Environmental Law |title=La contaminación por mercurio y los derechos humanos |url=https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/HR_Mercury_SPA-1.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{centerforinternationalenvironmentallawndcontaminacin, author = {{Center for International Environmental Law}}, title = {{La contaminación por mercurio y los derechos humanos}}, institution = {Center for International Environmental Law}, url = {https://www.ciel.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/HR_Mercury_SPA-1.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }