{"id":74356,"date":"2023-02-20T09:43:46","date_gmt":"2023-02-20T07:43:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/women-and-children-in-gold-mining-areas-intoxicated-with-mercury-study"},"modified":"2023-02-20T12:24:20","modified_gmt":"2023-02-20T10:24:20","slug":"women-and-children-in-gold-mining-areas-intoxicated-with-mercury-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.cc\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/women-and-children-in-gold-mining-areas-intoxicated-with-mercury-study","title":{"rendered":"Women And Children In Gold-mining Areas \u201cIntoxicated\u201d With Mercury | Study"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>A large number of children of school-going age and women of childbearing age in gold-mining areas in Zimbabwe have high levels of mercury in their bodies, a study has revealed.<\/p>\n

According to the study carried out by Dr. Dennis Shoko, a local academic, and other researchers from outside Zimbabwe, titled \u201cCountry Diagnostic Report on Environmental Health Implications of Mercury in Artisanal and Small-Scale Gold Mining in Zimbabwe\u201d women miners living and working in areas where mercury is used are exposed to danger.<\/p>\n

The mercury, which is used to process gold, exposes women and their children to lifelong diseases such as brain damage, kidney failure and heart diseases.<\/p>\n

The study sought to measure infants\u2019 and mothers\u2019 levels of mercury in urine, hair and breast milk in the gold-rich area of Chakari, Kadoma.<\/p>\n

It involved 120 mothers whose breast milk samples were analysed from four different groups. Part of the study reads:<\/p>\n

High levels of mercury were found in breast milk in the Kadoma\/Chakari area, which unduly exposes breastfeeding infants.<\/p>\n

A large number of children of school-going age and women of childbearing age are already intoxicated or with elevated levels of mercury in their bodies.<\/p>\n

In an interview with The Sunday Mail, specialist obstetrician Dr. Antony Muchabaiwa said:<\/p>\n

Mercury can pass from a mother to her baby through the placenta during pregnancy and, in smaller amounts, through breast milk after birth.<\/p>\n

Exposure to mercury can affect the infant\u2019s brain and nervous system development during pregnancy and after birth.<\/p>\n

Paediatrician Professor Douglas Chirenji told The Sunday Mail that chronic mercury exposure results in mental retardation, delayed development, language disorders and seizures in children.<\/p>\n

An estimated 1.5 million local artisanal gold miners reportedly use about 50 tonnes of mercury to process gold annually.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/a> Follow Africa-Press<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. A large number of children of school-going age and women of childbearing age in gold-mining areas in Zimbabwe have high levels of mercury in their bodies, a study has revealed. According to the study carried out by Dr. Dennis Shoko, a local academic, and other researchers from outside Zimbabwe, titled \u201cCountry Diagnostic […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":74355,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[1493,2189,12932,14022,473,14021,19],"class_list":{"0":"post-74356","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-all-news","8":"category-community","9":"tag-africa-press","10":"tag-africa-press-zimbabwe-2","11":"tag-chakari","12":"tag-chakari-community","13":"tag-gold","14":"tag-mercury","15":"tag-zimbabwe"},"yoast_head":"\nWomen And Children In Gold-mining Areas \u201cIntoxicated\u201d With Mercury | Study - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A large number of children of school-going age and women of childbearing age in gold-mining areas in Zimbabwe have high ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/women-and-children-in-gold-mining-areas-intoxicated-with-mercury-study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Women And Children In Gold-mining Areas \u201cIntoxicated\u201d With Mercury | Study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A large number of children of school-going age and women of childbearing age in gold-mining areas in Zimbabwe have high ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/women-and-children-in-gold-mining-areas-intoxicated-with-mercury-study\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-02-20T07:43:46+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-02-20T10:24:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2023\/02\/postQueueImg_1676873638.31.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"720\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/women-and-children-in-gold-mining-areas-intoxicated-with-mercury-study\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/women-and-children-in-gold-mining-areas-intoxicated-with-mercury-study\",\"name\":\"Women And Children In Gold-mining Areas \u201cIntoxicated\u201d With Mercury | Study - 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