Record concentration of heavy metals detected in fish from the Ecuadorian Amazon

Scientists from several countries have detected record concentrations of heavy metals in fish organisms from the Amazon Ecuador, a phenomenon related to the increase in industrial and artisanal extraction of natural resources in this jungle, mainly gold from river beds.

The experts also considered that these new pollution patterns increase the silent threats against the survival of the peoples who live in the area. Amazon jungleconsidered one of the main lungs of the planet.

And it is that “the Amazon “It is the freshwater ecosystem with the greatest biodiversity in the world,” which is threatened by the growing impact of pollution, concluded the study developed by researchers from the University of the Americas (UDLA), in Ecuador.

The investigation has also had the collaboration of the Ecuador office of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), the state-run National Biodiversity Institute (Inabio) and the Royal Ontario Museum (Canada); and has had funding from the Development Agency (DGD) of Belgium.

According to the researchers, The pollution that has generated the increase of heavy metals in the organisms of Amazonian fish is mining, the oil industry and the deforestation of the jungle.

“The increase in mercury (Hg) in the Amazon basin is especially worrying, which now amounts to more than 800 tons per year, most of which is dumped into the environment during the extraction and refining of gold,” Inabio said in a statement. report on the study.

Research has revealed patterns of accumulation of heavy metals in fish from the Napo and Pastaza river basins, including the Aguarico, Cuyabeno and Bobonaza tributaries.

The study involved the analysis of 360 fish specimens representing 58 species, and the concentration of metals such as aluminum, arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, helium, manganese, nickel, lead, zinc and mercury was evaluated.

”The results reveal that 15 species and 53 individual specimens of fish exhibit concentrations of heavy metals that exceed recommended standards, with elevated levels of aluminum (Al), arsenic (As) and mercury (Hg),” the source added.

Furthermore, he stressed that this phenomenon “poses particular threats to humans and biodiversity,” especially for indigenous populations and rural sectors of the jungle, whose food depends on fishing for these fish.

Some research in the tropical areas of South America has warned that the rapid expansion of the oil, gold, iron and copper extraction industries generates a environmental pollution widespread with significant concentrations of arsenic, cadmium, chromium, copper, mercury, nickel, lead and tin.

“The pollution by mercury is the most worrying, as it is associated with deterioration of cardiological and neurological function, reduced enzyme activity and increased oxidative stress, especially in women,” he added.

Other documented effects are “the increased risk of lung cancer, fetal teratology, seizures and hearing loss in childhood and insomnia in adults, memory loss and damage to the central nervous system and kidneys”.

This type of pollution It also affects water cetaceans such as pink dolphins (inia geoffrensis), also popularly known as bufeos; and the tucuxi dolphins (sotalia fluviatilis), “severely threatened in the Ecuadorian Amazon,” Inabio added in its report.

The institutions involved in the study have committed to “monitor and complement the information to document in a sustained and comprehensive manner the persistent impacts of heavy metal contamination in the Ecuadorian Amazon region and the Western Amazon in general,” the source added.