Mercury awareness programme goes to Region Seven

– Residents warned against eating fish that eat other fish
THE remote hinterland community of Isseneru in Region Seven (Cuyuni/Mazaruni) last week benefitted from a visit by the Chief Medical Officer in the Ministry of Health, Dr Shamdeo Persaud and officials from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA).



At clinic at Isseneru last week. Seated from left are: Evadne Cleto, Antlee Jacobs and Sharmin Jones with their babies Kimberly. Jason and Odessa respectively.

The visit, which lasted two days, was part of a continuing programme funded by CIDA to ensure that pregnant women, nursing mothers and young infants are kept safe from the harmful effects of mercury –particularly mercury in fish.

During the visit to Isseneru, the one recurring message of the officials to the women was: Fish that eat other fish tend to have higher levels of mercury in their flesh than non-carnivorous fish; do not eat fish that eat other fish.

The mercury awareness programme targets not only Isseneru, but several other hinterland communities where fish with high levels of mercury can have harmful effects on human beings.

The mercury awareness programme is the health component of the Guyana Environmental Capacity Development (GENCAPD) project being funded by the Government of Canada, through CIDA, with the aim of building the environmental management capacity of mineral industry institutions in Guyana.

The programme is codenamed ‘GENCAPD 2’ which follows on the heels of’ GENCAPD 1’, a similar Canadian assistance programme which ran from 1998 to 2007.

Officials who visited Isseneru included Dr Persaud; Mr. Richard Couture, Scientific Adviser of Natural Resources Canada (CANMET), the executing agency for CIDA projects; staffers of his department and two members of the media.

Explaining the rationale for the programme, Couture explained that mercury, also known as quicksilver, is a metallic element that is naturally found in small amounts in the air, soil, sediment, plants and in water.

Natural processes such as industrial activities and mining release mercury into the air and water.

Mercury is harmless in rocky terrain, but in the water, it is converted into an organic form easily absorbed by fish, and it accumulates in high amounts in fish eating other fish.

People eating such fish take the mercury into their own bodies, and if that amount reaches a very high level, they can fall seriously ill.

High levels of mercury cause such symptoms as poor control of the hands and feet, memory loss, and decreased vision and hearing.

Mercury also builds up in fetuses in pregnant women, and can lead to the delay in a child learning to walk and to talk, and poor control over their hands and feet.

However, Couture disclosed that ‘GENCAPD 1’ had done a scientific study of mercury pollution in mining and non-mining areas between 2001 and 2004 and had found no evidence that mining had contributed significantly to mercury pollution in any of these areas.

“We found that mercury levels in water and in mud (both on land and on river beds), were the same, both in mining and pristine areas. In fact, we found people with the highest mercury levels in non-mining areas — particularly areas where fish was a very significant part of their diet.”

He said that it was these very findings which led ‘GENCAPD 2’ to focus more on pregnant women, nursing mothers and infants, not necessarily because of known high levels of mercury pollution anywhere, but more as a precautionary measure.

“We are not asking everybody not to eat fish,” Couture said. “We are targeting pregnant mothers; pregnant mothers on the average everywhere account for 10 % of the population; so rather than saying to 100%, ‘don’t eat fish,’ we are targeting 10%; and out of the 10%, if they have an opportunity of eating non-carnivorous fish, why not?”

Following an interaction with nursing mothers at Isseneru, Dr Persaud disclosed that annual tests for mercury levels among residents in hinterland communities have been part of the programme over the past three years.

The tests are done on samples of hair taken from people within these communities.

A team from the Ministry does follow-up visits once every three months.

Dr Persaud said that results over the past two years showed that there had been a marked reduction in mercury levels among people at Isseneru, as well as residents in other communities which are part of the programme.

“We at the Ministry have not detected anyone in any of the hinterland communities with classic symptoms of mercury poisoning,” Dr Persaud said.

The mercury awareness programme for pregnant and nursing mothers is however ongoing.

It is being held in the hinterland communities of Mahdia, Isherton, Gunns, Isseneru and Masekenari and ends in September 2010, at the conclusion of the GENCAPD 2 project.

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