Melissa Marchese conducted fieldwork in the Peruvian Amazon for two summers to collect data for her graduation with distinction project. Her current results are presented here, and she has more analyses planned for the semester.
Ask me a question about this poster! Please send me an email.
Melissa,
This is fascinating to read about — and you did a great job putting together an eye-catching and engaging poster! I developed an interest in ASGM projects after getting to know Dr. Bernhardt and Dr. Bill Pan, one of my other Enviro professors. Had no idea that mercury pathways could be traced to other animals besides the ‘tuna fish exposure’ most of us think of when we hear the word mercury. I’m wondering if you’ve thought about long-term policy directions for work like this. By presenting and raising awareness in communities proximal to ASGM operations, what changes (dietary, behavioral, procedural, or otherwise) would you like to see to protect consumers of rice, chicken, and carnivorous fish? Definitely extrapolating on this question, just interesting to think about for such a complex subject. 🙂 Wish you the best as you continue this work!
Joy
Hey Joy, thanks so much for your comment! The policy surrounding ASGM in Peru is definitely a complex issue, as I’ve learned from my interdisciplinary experience with Bass connections. The health/environmental ministries in Madre de Dios recognize the dangers of ASGM and have actually made informal mining with Hg illegal, but it still persists since the global demand for gold is so high and it’s a very profitable line of work. Lots of global factors to consider.
There have also been public health emergencies in the past in Madre de Dios because of the high levels of Hg found in fish, but the goal of this study is definitely not to get everyone to stop eating all fish or chicken. We were happy to see that all of the non-carnivorous fish had safe levels of Hg according to the EPA, which is great because fish are an important protein/nutrient source for many people. We also found that many chicken meats and vegetables did not have concerning levels of Hg. The aim is to help people make simple, informed swaps (eg: yuca instead of rice or Paco instead of Bagre) rather than avoiding all local food. Our group has worked with an NGO in Madre de Dios and we hope to work with them to make information from this project as accessible as possible. Hope that answered your questions!
Melissa
Hi Melissa
Your poster was really interesting! You mentioned in your conclusion that your analyses are not yet complete, so I was wondering what your next steps would be. Also, when I went to Peru, I was fascinated by the culture and everyone there was very nice. However, were there are difficulties or obstacles while collecting data or interviewing local miners (language barriers, cultural differences)? I can’t wait to see your future progress on this subject!
Hi Emily,
Thanks for your comment! This semester I’m planning on running methyl mercury and C/N isotope analyses. Methyl Hg is the most dangerous form of Hg, so knowing how much is in the chicken meats will give us a much better sense of the risk involved with consuming it. The isotope data will show what the chickens are eating, and if that explains the Hg accumulation trends.
As far as challenges go, conducting this research in Spanish took some getting used to. I speak some Spanish, but I had to quickly learn local words I had never encountered before (like the various chicken parts). Like you said though, everyone was very nice and I was soon comfortable doing the sampling. Overall, it was an awesome experience and I’d highly recommend.
Melissa
Hi Melissa,
This was a super cool project to read about! When I finished reading I was so curious to learn more! Do the local residents of Madre de Dios already avoid some of these high-risk foods / are they already aware somewhat of the risks? How realistic is it for them to switch out local high risk foods (is there a higher cost involved)? How does this impact local farmers / fishers of high-risk foods? Perhaps these questions are not within the scope of your project, but if you have insights, I’d love to know! Thank you and congratulations on this excellent work!
Cynthia
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