Did you know… there are believed to be 15 uncontacted tribes still living in the Peruvian Amazon. Up until the mid-1980s, the indigenous Nahua people were included in that list. Since that time, contact with ‘outsiders’ has seriously impacted their community. Now, a recent unpublished Health Ministry report is shedding light on a mercury poisoning crisis that is affecting the Nahua even more.
Facts About the Nahua Tribe [1]
- Contact with outsiders in the mid-1980s led to ~50 percent of Nahua people dying from diseases (e.g., infectious and respiratory)
- Presently, the Nahua population is under 500
- Most of them live inside a reserve for tribes in “voluntary isolation” in south-east Peru
Once a remote, agricultural and self-sustainable people, the Nahua tribe has just been trying to survive. Currently, there are two dangers that seem to be thinning the thread they’re holding onto.
- Fish consumption
- Gas extraction
Fish Consumption and the Nahua
According to the unpublished Health Report, it is unlikely that fish consumption is solely responsible for the mercury poisoning. One anonymous Nahua man has said that authorities have not even visited their tribe since March 2017.
As reported by The Guardian, he says “that the only advice they have received is to ‘eat well’ and avoid drinking alcohol, and the only possible explanation given for the mercury is that two species of fish might be contaminated.”[2]
The Unspoken Impact of the Camisea Project
Remember how the Nahua population dropped drastically starting in the mid-1980s? That’s the same time the Camisea gas project began. Experts are betting that the gas extraction coupled with illegal gold mining is largely responsible for the mercury contamination crisis.
The report, titled “Análisis de Situación de Salud del Pueblo Nahua de Santa Rosa de Serjali en la Reserva Territorial Kugapakori Nahua Nanti y Otros,” states:[2]
“Without adequate and sufficient information about gas operations in the Camisea project, it is not possible to rule it out as the source of the mercury contamination among the Nahua in Santa de Rosa de Serjali.
The Peruvian state must conduct serious, complete analyses of the mercury emissions – in the air and water from run-off produced during exploration – and the contamination routes in order to establish the risk levels for people in the reserve as well as others elsewhere in the Urubamba basin.”
Scientist Oksana Lane from the Biodiversity Research Institute analyzed urine samples that Peru’s health authorities had recorded. Upon review, she believes that the levels of mercury demand investigation.[2]
“The exposure is elevated and if this reflects chronic exposure, it can lead to kidney damage and possibly other health issues. The testing conducted so far has been inadequate and so we recommend sampling and testing human hair for total mercury – a combination of inorganic and organic forms – to determine exposure from the diet.
Most exposure to mercury from the diet is organic – methylmercury – which is a potent neurotoxin and has detrimental effects on the central nervous system. Mercury in urine is inorganic and therefore doesn’t measure exposure from the diet.”
How the Nahua Tribe Is Likely Absorbing Mercury
Of all the different types of mercury, methylmercury is most deadly. In fact, “90 percent of any methylmercury ingested is absorbed into the bloodstream from the GI tract.”[3]
Levels of methylmercury are most concentrated in foods such as fish from, yes, contaminated waters. In addition to fish, any vegetation absorbing the same water source is subject to the same mercury contamination. As a result, when people consume foods like fish, they run the risk of absorbing the mercury inside.
However, mercury absorption can still occur with or without fish. Methods including mining and gas extraction are extremely invasive. When this happens, for example, mercury can be released from the earth and contaminate the air, bodies of water, soil, and more.
A Call to End the Nahua Tribe’s Mercury Crisis
“We need help, we want help, we want someone to help us,” says the anonymous Nahua man. “People are concerned. There’s no one dealing with this. We’ve been well forgotten.”
For more information about the Nahua people and other uncontacted tribes, visit Survival International.
