Researchers who studied three generations of mothers and their children from the community of Grassy Narrows, Ontario, have concluded that sustained exposure to the toxic metal helped cause a suicide rate three times higher than any other First Nations community – which are already far higher than among the country’s general population.

  • QuinceDaPence@kbin.social
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    4
    ·
    1 year ago

    released more than 20,000lb of mercury into the Wabigoon and English river systems

    That’s weird considering mercury was and is kinda valuable.

    • Parallax@kbin.social
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      ·
      1 year ago

      Maybe it was mixed in with something else and wasn’t considered valuable enough to salvage/filter out. I also wonder if the 20,000lbs number is over a period of many years. Super messed up either way though, I don’t even know where one would start cleaning this up. :(

      • QuinceDaPence@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        Maybe/probably but on the scale of 20000lbs that still seems odd. Although at 113lbs/gal that’s only 175 gallons but still, mercury is usually used in extremely small quantities.

        • meat_popsicle@kbin.social
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          1
          ·
          1 year ago

          Typically as a vapor, even. And it has a fairly low vapor pressure for a liquid. Not even that much vapor is needed.

          It’s an immense amount of liquid mercury - especially since it probably had organic compounds in it too. Bioavailable mercury is truly fucked stuff, and those responsible for this should live the rest of their lives in a chemical shed.

      • meat_popsicle@kbin.social
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        1 year ago

        That’s…worse in a lot of ways. Mercury compounds are way way fucking bad and are even more dangerous than “just” straight elemental mercury.

    • redtea@lemmygrad.ml
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      2
      ·
      1 year ago

      I didn’t think of it like that. Maybe it was mixed up and hard to separate from something else? Or maybe there were high taxes, etc, on commercial waste? Something like that?