NARRATION: What if it took 4 hours to decrease a major
community health problem by 80% for just 500 dollars?
In more than 60 countries artisanal metal workers produce pure gold for sale through
a centuries-old process that is dangerous to human health and the environment.
Mercury is used to separate gold from sediments and ore.
When it is burned to extract the pure gold, the process creates a dangerous byproduct
-- airborne mercury vapors.
Mercury is a neurotoxin.
High exposure of adults and children to mercury vapor is very dangerous and can cause neurological
damage, kidney disorders, respiratory effects, even death.
Because of the adverse health effects of airborne mercury it's important for the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency and its partners to find solutions for the global gold mining community.
In and outside of gold shops, workers and the general public are exposed to dangerously
high concentrations of mercury.
The levels are tens or hundreds of times higher than the maximum limits set by the United
Nations World Health Organization.
FRANCES BEINECKE: The international community should care about
the use of mercury in small-scale gold mining because it's actually the largest single intentional
use in the world at this point totaling 30 percent of all mercury emissions.
So even though it's scattered around the globe it is a very large single source that needs
to be controlled to protect the health of millions of people across the planet.
NARRATION: Despite the serious threat to public health
and the environment, these gold shop emissions, are, for the most part uncontrolled and unregulated.
They persist in the environment, impacting air, water, and soil, as well as fish and
other foods.
This widespread health concern has been a focus of the EPA for years.
MICHELLE DEPASS: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency created
the Gold Shop Mercury Reduction Project to reduce the amount of mercury emitted from
these gold shops worldwide.
These emissions are transported globally through the atmosphere where they pose serious health
threats far from the source.
Most of the mercury that reaches people, comes from global sources.
In the United States more than 70 percent of the mercury comes from global sources.
One of the serious health threats, from mercury, is that it gets into our food chain.
That's why it's so important that we reduce global mercury.
NARRATION: The goal was to adapt proven mercury control
methods to develop a low cost, simple design, easily constructed with materials widely available
in most parts of the world.
A metal shop can build the MCS in as little as 4 hours.
Installing the system requires minimal changes to the shop's existing exhaust system.
Its compact design makes it easy to transport -- by car, bus, or even moto-taxi.
Working with EPA experts, engineers at Argonne National Laboratory designed the Mercury Capture
System, or MCS.
LUIS FERNANDEZ: Local mill shop workers build the systems
in several cities in Brazil and Peru and they come out between $450 and $500.
Of course that depends on the price of local materials but these are very easily available
materials.
NARRATION: The MCS has been tested in Brazil and Peru
and is currently reducing mercury emissions by as much as 80 percent.
FRANCES BEINECKE: It's hard to promote these technologies even
though they are very effective and low cost because the communities that are doing this
kind of mining are spread all over the world.
There are small separate communities in 70 countries spread all across the world.
So even though we have a great technology, the mercury capture technology spreading the
word on the availability of it and the cost effectiveness of it is a very big challenge.
People and organizations in the international community that are focused on reducing mercury
should be engaged in this.
And that includes governments, development agencies, NGOs--actually community leaders,
those who are concerned about the well-being of people all across the world and reducing
health risk to them should be engaged in this process.
MICHELLE DEPASS: This is why it is so important for us to work
together to reduce this threat.
NARRATION: The widespread adoption of the Mercury Capture
System can prevent thousands of pounds of mercury from entering the atmosphere annually.
A simple solution for healthier, safer citizens.