THE FUTURE EFFECT OF BRAZIL MINE TRAGEDY ON HUMANS AND MARINE LIFES

The collapse of a dam in an iron mine few weeks ago in Brazilian state of Minas Gerais is one of the biggest environmental disaster the country have ever experienced. Waste(mud) from the dam is said to contain toxic substances like mercury, arsenic, chromium and manganese exceeding human consumption level. The mud have travelled 500km since the dam collapsed, entering into river and destroying houses. The travelling mud is said to have reached the Atlantic Ocean and this could have a devastating effect on marine life. Heavy metals present in the travelling mud may also pose a serious threat to human health. Although the mining company called Somarco said the mud isn't toxic  but biologist and environmental expert disagree. According to Aderinola et al (2009),this might cause physical and chemical changes to the receiving waters and these change may include increased dissolved nutrients which may result in eutrophication, changes in stream temperature and bottom characteristics which lead to habitat destruction and alternation of species diversity and the addition of toxic substances which can have either acute or chronic effects on aquatic organism. The mud is said to be high in silica and iron which means it will set hard as concrete when it dries up.

According to Mukherjee and Bhupander(2011) marine organism posses a remarkable capacity to turn inorganic mercury to organic compound, thus rendering mercury more easily transferable throughout the aquatic food. So the consumption of fish may constitute an important source of mercury exposure for humans in the area. And it is also established that fish and seafood can accumulate sizeable quantities of organic arsenic from their environment and this can cause cancer of lungs,liver,bladder and skin according to Jaishankar et al. Also according to Jaishankar et al(2014) exposure to higher amount of chromium compounds can lead to inhibition of erythrocyte glutathione reductase, which in turn lowers the capacity to reduce methemoglobin to haemoglobin.

Below is a video showing the severity of the disaster.

                                             Video by ODN.

Failure to control the exposure will result in severe complications in the future because of the adverse effects imposed by heavy metals.

Reference

 Aderinola O.J., Clarke E.O., Olarinmoye O.M., Kusemiju V. and Anatekhai M.A.. (2009). Heavy Metals in Surface Water, Sediments, Fish and Perwinklesof Lagos Lagoon. American-Eurasian J. Agric. & Environ. Sci. 5 (5), 609-611.
Jaishankar M., Tseten T., Anbalagan N., Mathew B.B.,and Beeregowda K.N.. (2014). Toxicity, mechanism and health effects of some heavy metals. Interdisciplinary Toxicology . 7 (2), 60-72.

Mukherjee D. P. and Bhupander K.. (2011). Assessment of Arsenic, Cadmium and Mercury Level in Commonly Consumed Coastal Fishes from Bay of Bengal, India . Food Science and Quality Management. 2 (2), 19-27.