{
  "id": 6314318,
  "title": "Riverside families in the Amazon change meals as mercury poisons staple fish",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons",
  "topic": "science",
  "section": "Science",
  "published": "2026-09-08T18:59:32.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Mongabay",
    "slug": "mongabay",
    "url": "https://news.mongabay.com/2026/09/riverside-families-in-the-amazon-change-meals-as-mercury-poisons-staple-fish/"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "In the Brazilian Amazon, the Lake Puruzinho community, situated near the city of Humaitá, has had to alter their dietary habits due to mercury poisoning in their staple fish. The community, home to around 170 people, traditionally consumed fish from the lake, but this practice was halted after learning about the high levels of mercury in the water. This contamination is primarily caused by illegal gold mining activities in the Madeira River, a tributary of the Amazon, which discharges an estimated 10-50 metric tons of mercury each year. Maria Rogelina Soares da Silva dos Santos, a local fisher and homemaker, expressed her concern about the mercury levels in their bodies, particularly from consuming fish like the tucunaré. Researchers from the Federal University of Rondônia (UNIR) have been studying the impact of mercury contamination on fish and human health for 26 years, focusing on pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, and children in the region. These studies have confirmed the presence of mercury in the fish population, leading to a significant change in the dietary practices of the Lake Puruzinho community.",
  "summary": "A database built by Mongabay Latam, based on the analysis of scientific studies that gathered more than 7,000 samples from humans and 5,900 from fish, identified the areas most affected by mercury contamination in the Madeira River, one of the main tributaries of the Amazon.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 2,
    "also_reported_by": [
      {
        "outlet": "Mongabay",
        "title": "New analysis maps mercury threat to 951 Amazon communities in three countries",
        "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/09/08/new-analysis-maps-mercury-threat-to-951-amazon-communities-in-three",
        "published": "2026-09-08T18:34:34.000Z"
      }
    ]
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}