OPINION

STEALTHIER DANGER By Juan Mercado

CURBS ON AERIAL SPRAYING of Mindanao banana plantations recently hit the headlines. Hedge-hopping aircraft that spray pesticides make good photo ops. And the stakes are high. The Philippines exported 1.90 million tons of bananas last year.

But the more lethal threat is less visible and far stealthier. Some 13.5 metric tons of toxic mercury slosh yearly into major rivers from Naboc to Kinking, then build up to health-threatening levels, within fish schools, in the Davao Gulf.

Lead tailings poison Hijo, Matiao, Masara, Batoto to Manat Rivers. Mercury-laced waters, from Compostela Valley, seep into tributaries, as they drain into Butuan Bay. Mercury-stained stream sediments threaten the Agusan river.

In 1956, fish and shellfish, contaminated by mercury discharged by a chemical plant, poisoned 2,252 men, women and children in Minimata, Japan. “Minimata” disease resulted in brain lesions, tremors, paralysis and miscarriages. Over the past 36 years, 1043 have died.

So, will mercury, smuggled in by Davao gold panhandlers, poison the food chain here? Limited studies already track traces in school children, pregnant mothers and miners.

”There’s been no publicized mercury poisoning of humans” here, answer Dr Ed. B. Prantilla and Carmelita Martinez who’ve just completed a study titled: “Heavy Metals Contamination in the Davao Region”. “But In remote areas, there are few doctors and inadequate medical facilities. Mercury poisoning may be attributed to other causes.”

Prantilla and Martinez synthesized findings, by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, academics and other agencies, over 14 years. Two year infants in Tagum city, whose mothers were exposed to mercury, lagged in development and speech, they note. And new US research reveals striking similarity of symptoms of mercury poisoning with autism.

A former UN econometrician, Prantilla teaches development studies at University of Southeastern Philippines. Martinez is a faculty member in of the school of government and management. Their study focuses on the most problematic metals like mercury, lead and cadmium.

The ecological collapse of the 194 hectare Lake Leonard – or “Crocodile Lake” – in Compostela Valley Province pinpointed lead and cadmium as culprits. Once an excellent fishing ground, dumping of lead, in the late 1970s, “killed” the lake. Bureau of Fisheries found that fish samples registered lead, cadmium and copper contents breached critical tolerable limits.

“Heavy Metals” begins from the path-blazing 1982 analysis, by Rosita Fundador, who documented mercury contaminating some Davao Gulf fish and seashells.

The survey includes the 2006 study, by the Health Department’s Region XI, which found:“Fish samples from Davao Oriental, Davao del Sur and Davao City markets…had mercury contents higher than the allowable limit of 0.3 micro grams.” But the DOH study didn’t pinpoint where those fishes were caught. Hence, it has not been released so far.

Prantilla and Martinez also indicate research gaps: “The heavy metals content of freshwater fish, in contaminated rivers and lakes of the Davao Region, as well as plants consumed by people” has not been studied so far. Even more worrisome is failure to track mercury seepage into aquifers, recharged within mining and gold processing areas.

Mercury levels in animals are a festering question. In the 1990’s, carabaos keeled over mysteriously in Barangay Naboc. There’s suspicion that belief mercury and cyanide, in irrigation water, caused those deaths.

Illegal mercury supplies seep through Davao’s porous borders. “The one major source of mercury pollution is gold ore processors,” they write. They cluster in (a) Diwalwal, Compostela Valley Province, (b) Kingking, Pantukan, Compostela Valley Province, and (c) Apokon, Tagum City, Davao del Norte Province.

Most of 796 operations get mercury illicitly. “Annual mercury consumption of Davao Region, due to gold processing, amounted to 13,524 kilograms of mercury.” But this can be curbed from “the user side”, i.e. government imposing strict compliance with environmental laws. That would include small artisan miners.

Government could clamp the condition that polluters pay for damage they incur. Pollution taxes should be paid to repay those whose health has been impaired. There is need, too, cleansing polluted seas and water systems. Heavy metals ought to be factored into wastewater discharge fees.

“Government action on high levels of mercury in certain species of fish caught in Davao Gulf is long overdue.” Inaction has serious health implications “especially because those fishes with high level of mercury are eaten by a large portion of the Davao Region population.”

Drs. Nelia Maramba and Cristina S. Dablo earlier found elevated mercury levels in, the blood and urine of 114 school children and 70 miners they examined. Further studies, however, are needed to get a more detailed insight into the health issues.

Many remain unaware of the dangers posed by heavy metals pollution. An information campaign by government, academe and civil society is urgent. But the dangers have been played down with arguments cautioning against .economic disruption in mining.

But there’s is a need to consider the long-run effects and economic costs of neglecting the problem, Prantilla and Martinez argue. The present ambiguity merely turns a blind eye and covers up the effects of heavy metal pollution. It limits vision only to short term benefits “(But) available studies are already a cause for alarm.”